UK Keratoconus Self-Help and Support Association

After 20 months of being a man of leisure, the time has finally come for me to rejoin the rat race and go back to work today. I won't say that this time has been spent enjoying myself, some of the time off was good but most of it was just boring. Still patience won through, had my operation and now got a good level of sight back.

New job, new employer and shorter journey time to work though the distance remains about the same. I'll have to see how long it'll be before I'm asking for a LCD monitor though as they still use the good old CRT's.

If you ever phone a certain mobile company (oxygen symbol) asking to cancel your contract you may well get me on the other end of the phone!!!!

I'll bear that in mind when I consider whether to move my contract from the Mobile Tea

All the best with the new job. I have a LED monitor; it is such an improvement on my old Cathode Ray Tube.

Andrew

Think I'm going to have to get an LCD, the monitors are 14" and the flickering did me head in so much so I now have a splitting headache.

Welcome to the rat race, Karl!

Hopefully, you'll be able to persuade your employers to let you have a nice new monitor. Did you tell them about your KC? Do you think that the DDA may be of any use?

They know about the KC as had to have an occ health assessment prior to starting, and the DDA will be useful

Good luck Karl.

hi people

Does it matter that my employer know i got KC? As i work for garge as site supervisor and i always have my bosses using my bad eye sight against me when comes to trying to go for promotions saying that i will not be able to cope with my bad eye sight. I think it wouldnt make much different if they knew as they dont really care

please advise what i can do It seems like life at bottom is where i will alawys stay with KC

cuddly

Having KC should not stop you being promoted.

Are your employers aware of the reason behind your poor eyesight? If they are and they are not promoting you purely because of your eyesight then you are being discriminated against. However it will be up to you to show that you meet the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act in relation to being disabled, and even then only a Judge or Employment Tribunal Chairman can have the definitive answer as to whether or not you are disabled.

Presuming you satisfy the requirements, you will then need to raise a grievance with your employer on the grounds of discrimination and evidence the discrimination by using a comparable person - i.e a person with the same skill set and experience as you who has been promoted over you. It is up to the employer to prove that discrimination did not take place. Ultimately you could end up going to an Employment Tribunal (ET) should the grievance procedure not produce results. Bear in mind that if you do go to an ET you must do so within 3 months of the incident occurring. Another thing to consider is that by going to an ET you will probably damage your relationship with your employer, also there are no guarantees that you will win or reach a settlement through ACAS. ET can be a long and stressful route and should only be used as a last resort. I speak from experience.

That said, if your employer thinks that "he has bad vision, and can't be bothererd getting better glasses" - then that could be a valid reason for non-promotion - presumed lazyness.

Of course, if you told them , and could show that you are doing what you can to get on DESPITE the KC, then you may well find that they look at you in a completely different light.

Hi Karl
Well - you've been back a week now - hope it's going Ok? I bet you are finding it strange just actually going back to work after a long break - I know I did even after 7 months. It can be quite hard to get back in to the work routine.

Do let us know how you are getting on.

Pat
PS. My experiences are still "ongoing" if you get my drift!!