Due to factors outside of our control, we were made redundant by our last employer.
Our last day with them was officially 30th April, but they put us on gardening leave for a couple of weeks beforehand.
We did get a moderate redundancy payout, equal to about 3 weeks' pay, as well as our final monthly pay amount for April, but we've been officially unemployed since 1st May.
After reviewing which unemployment and support benefits we were theoretically eligible for, we applied for new style ESA immediately on 1st May, in order to reduce the risk of any delay.
Despite them claiming to get back to us within 10 working days (or 14 days according the the SMS text confirmation), we've had no letters, SMS texts, or emails. And we just wasted 2 hours attempting to get through to DWP this morning / afternoon before our call was automatically disconnected at the 2 hour mark ๐คฌ
In the name of accessibility, you'd think that there would at least be a contact form or a way to create a support ticket for someone to answer. However, the only accessibility option they offer is for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. There aren't any accommodations for people who struggle with phone calls, particularly neurospicy folks with high anxiety and/or who struggle with auditory processing 
The most-stupid thing about this is that we don't even know whether we're going to pass the first hurdle for applying for this, since they might not consider us "disabled enough", where most of our struggles are non-physical, so we may be forced down the even-shitter, even-more-unsuitable, and arguably even-more-demoralising new style JSA route ๐
Right-wing grifters push the false notion that everyone seeking benefits is some lazy scrounger out to game the system and get something for nothing, but it's such completely bullshit propaganda.
Despite time we've spent out of work between jobs or on sick leave, we've worked pretty much full-time our first job after graduating from university in 2005.
It's not that we don't want to work: we just don't want to work shitty jobs for companies that:
- force us to mask our neurodivergence;
- won't make reasonable accommodations and resent us for asking;
- "reward" hard work with more work;
- don't match any of our interests or strengths;
- want us to come into an office for arbitrary reasons several times a week, even if the entire job could be done remotely without any issues;
- were designed for and are managed by extroverted neurotypicals or sociopaths;
- don't provide any meaningful or compassionate help, support, or service to people or society;
- only pay at most a minimum living wage unless you want to go down the managerial route.
We're burnt out and broken from trying to work jobs like these.
Even our last job, which was the least-shitty one we'd had, became unsuitable for us after the team was shrunk and responsibilities were redistributed among those of us who remained. Plus the organisation was systematically enshittifying itself over time.
We're not lazy: we're AuDHD and need strong daily stimulants just to function even somewhat "normally" by neurotypical standards.
We're not being unreasonable by asking for reasonable accommodations for legally-recognised disabilities under the Equality Act 2010.
We're not trying to avoid work: we just won't do yet another shitty, low-paid job that doesn't even give us enough to invest money into savings accounts.
The stupidest thing is that the entire benefits system is fundamentally broken. It would be more ethical, progressive, pro-social, and cost-efficient to move to some form of Universal Basic Income, funded by a moderate increase in tax for the richest earners.
#unemployed #unemployment #redundancy #disabled #disability #NewStyleESA #FuckTheUK #UniversalBasicIncome #UBI #neurodivergent #neurospicy #AuDHD #MentalHealth #GetFediHired
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