Yesterday I woke very early with a raging sore throat, and by the time I should’ve been getting up for work I’d already had six ‘ticcing fits’. I felt feverish and my head was aching relentlessly.

I knew that going to work wasn’t really an option, and that meant I wouldn’t have my support worker because Access to Work funds my weekday support worker.

Previously this would have been a huge problem and thrown my life into chaos. But this time was different because, following a similar experience earlier this year, my social worker arranged for an amount of money to be added to my personal budget for extra support for when I’m ill and can’t go to work. This means alternative care arrangements can now be made very quickly.

My support needs increase dramatically when I’m ill along with the frequency of my fits. Knowing I had the resources to sort out the extra care I needed took some of the stress out of being ill and meant I could concentrate on resting and getting better.