I'm going on social welfare because, after trying all year to find work, I cannot find any that I'm capable of doing without it affecting my health. Summer's coming and my savings from last summer are running out. I used to work in a restaurant every summer but each year it has affected my health more severely. I can't face that work any more, ridiculous and all as it sounds considering the economic problems we face nowadays. I'm getting disability allowance because it won't be stopped as soon as I return to college, and I'm hoping they'll give me a travel pass which I'd find extremely useful. I get severe sensory overload rapidly on any mode of transport except flying (resulting in vomiting most of the time), and I need buses the most, so I want to be able to take breaks without paying for another ticket each time I get back on board.
The reason I feel dreadful about this is because a) I see how much slagging people get, even here on WP, for claiming social welfare instead of working, and b) because I have made a BIG genuine effort all year round to find work that does suit me, even going so far as to apply for jobs that are somewhat unhealthy for me but are just part-time. I've been working weekends as a church organist but they still haven't got around to paying me, and I'm supposed to be working as a funeral organist the rest of the week but the singer hasn't got around to setting that up. I've contacted both the church and the singer explaining that it's important I get my financial situation in shape, but the church only coughed up half of what they owe me and the singer still isn't making any progress after promising me three months ago she'd get this job sorted. Oh and c), I'm scared to death of telling my parents my decision as my mother's a total control freak and they both go INSANE when I don't stick with the norm.
26 Apr 2011, 1:59 pm
