www.iva.co.uk

I have been regularly posting on here and thought I had turned the corner from my initial despair to having a sensible proposal drafted and a creditors meeting scheduled on the 8th May.
Yesterday a bombshell dropped. I have been having problems with my eyes and during an appointment with my eye consultant, he declared that I am partially blind and should register myself as such. I have damage to my retina that severly affacts my field vision. They think that this may be something that I have had all my life (but amazingly had not noticed becasue I knew no better). At this stage they do not think it is degenerative. The upshot is that I can register myself blind (even though I think I'm not) but it means that I will be unable to drive for the rest of my life.
At 39 this is really tough to take and will mean such a lifestyle change, I am struggling to take it all in.
To top all this off I still need to think about my IVA (which at the moment feels like the last thing I want to do).
I currently commute 80 miles per day to work in my car and I also use my car for occasional trips to clients. I have checked and I can get to work by public transport in 1hr 15mins. So I think that is acceptable, and I cannot see that my disability would in any way affect my ability at work. The only difficulty is getting to clients sites. I will have to do this by public transport and just accept the additional travel time needs to be my own (so as not in inconvience my employer). I need to speak to my boss this afternoon but I have a good relationship with everyone at work and therefore I can't see why he would not be supportive.
So, assuming I will keep my job, the other thing that will affect my IVA will be any other changes in I&E. I think the public transport costs to get to work will balance my petrol expenditure so there should be no change there. However, I will become increasingly reliant on my wife and our parents to ferry me around (can I claim some allowance for their time/costs).
Finally, as I can't drive I will have to give up my company car and I think I should be able to opt for the 'car allowance' instead. This will be a monthly payment of £500 on top of my normal salary. So bizarrely I will be better off under this change of events.
I spoke to my IP this morning and the advice was, as long as we can guarantee the original payments in the IVA proposals it would be best to go ahead with meeting as planned and then to do a new I&E post meeting. I understand that I do not get to keep any of my extra salary.
Anyway, sorry for such a long post but justed needed to get it out there. I can't believe this has happened, especially now. My wife who had begun to get over the debt issue, now has this to deal with and feels under more pressure than ever.
This morning, I really didnt want to share any of this with anyone and so posted about a story about a payrise at work to try and get answers the questions I needed. I then realised that need to be honest with everyone, especially my friends on this forum.
Honestly what I have is very minor, its just the damn timing. But its a lifestyle change I will have to just get used to. What I need is practical advice on the right next steps.

I am really sorry, that must be awful. I know the whole IVA process and decision is a major stress in itself so that was the last thing you needed. My thoughts are with you, but you will be okay and we are all here for you xxx

Phil,

I am so sorry to hear your news. Not what you expect to hear is it? I take it they can't do anything about it, but good news that it shouldn't get any worse.

I am so glad that you have an understanding boss, and an understanding IP as well, and I am sure both will work for you to get the best results. I don't know whether or not you can make any claim for your family running you about,best run that past your IP.

Never be afraid to post your feelings on here, it will probably make you feel better and there is always someone to help and support.

I can understand what your wife is going through, things will look up though. You can get through it supporting each other.

At the risk of being very flippant (and I don't want to upset you), once you are registered as partially blind, you should be able to get your TV licence free!

This must have come as a great shock but it is good to know it is not degenerative and has in fact been there a long time. As you say it is one thing after another but it might be a good thing to know once and for all what has caused your eye problems.

As to the IVA,I think that you have a good case for using the car allowance to pay for people to ferry you around as this would be cheaper than taxis. I certainly would not be increasing the offer to creditors as you do not stand to benefit.

I'm sorry to hear that Phil, it must be a horrible shock to you, and to your wife. I can't add anything to what the others have said, but I just wanted to let you know I'm thinking about you, and please don't worry about posting your feelings on here xxx

Thank you everyone. I think its the shock that is the big thing, and once I have got to grips with that its the inconvenince. However, thousands of people manage without a car, so I guess I will be going green.
The consultant provided me a list of benefits I can receive if I register blind (e.g. rail and bus passes, income tax cut, 1/2 price TV license, etc) but have not decieded if I am going to do this.
I think there is still a stigma with being on any disability register and I am worried that this may go against me if applying for jobs in the future. (Apparently only 1/3 of those able to register blind or partially sighted do so!)
Michael, thanks for your imput, I'm not sure how it works, if my IVA is accepted at current levels, and I can afford to put in extra £300-£500 per month, would it be my IPs decision as to whether they would allow me to cover the real costs of my parents time/petrol. As you said its cheaper than taxis and now just going to supermarket every week will incur costs for me.

The IP has discretion and if you can justify the expense and provide some sort of back up I am sure the IP will be happy to help you. Creditors do not want to penalise people and if your IP can do anything they can to help your situation I am sure they will. It just helps if you can provide as much information for them to have on file.

Phil, very sorry to hear of your troubles- I know a little of what poor eyesight means as I suffer from glaucoma which is getting worse. However, you mentioned work etc. This may give you some encouragement: I worked in the public service- our Director- General of Legal Services was totally blind and he often appeared in Court dealing with major planning matters and this chap ran a department with over 60 lawyers plus ancilliary staff; the Deputy Director- General of Staff was registered blind - partially sighted and the local hospital here has a blind consultant child psychiatrist - she lost her sight in a motoring accident.

Hi,
Phil, I am so sorry to hear about your bad news. It seems you are getting everything thrown at you at once. I was actually on disability awareness training yesterday and was informed that there is no such thing as a disibility register so this should have no effect on fuure employment.

Paul, I don't know if it happens to day but in my day in the public service all disabilities had to be disclosed in the initial job application; if the Staff people had any doubts the mandatory condition prior to interview(s) was a medical by an in house occupational physician.

I know the police force I work for is very hot on non discrimination for disabilities and if you are capable of doing the job and you are the best one at interview then you will get the job.

Where I used to work, they employed a blind switcboard operator!

I agree that you may need to tell an employer that you have a disability as defined under the disability discrimination act (DDA) but I was told that there is no such thing as a disability register. Some application forms ask if you are registered disabled but if no register exists then the answer has to be no. However if the question is do you have a disability as defined under (DDA) then the answer should be given honestly. However it can then increase the chance of getting at interview and ultimately if you can do the job there is no reason why you should not be appointed.

In my department Paul, if diasabled people (SEO grade and above) came through the interviews ok depending what the job was a psychometric- test had o be undertaken in the hope of the applicant knowing how to view his/her disability!! I hope that would be illegal now. We had a completely blind Director- General of Legal Services and he was a brilliant lawyer with a phenominal memory.

Nowadays discrimination against a lot of things is a definite no no. The company I work for would not allow any discrimination at all no matter what and lets be honest thats how it should be. Going back to Phils situation then I don't feel he should worry about jobs in the future at all. I think where Phil is at bearing in mind he is awaiting his creditors meeting is if to register blind (which I believe there may be a register for)and if he did then this may bring some benefits with it but would stop him from driving.

Phil, I would certainly give some thoughts to both scenarios and I feel for you as it is a lot to take in at the moment. Perhaps best to get the creditors meeting out of the way then that will be one less thing to worry about. Also if by registering blind this will give you extra income then what you don't want is for it all to go as additional payments into the IVA. In which case it may be worth waiting until the IVA is completed. If you register now then I would presume there is no turning back but if you consider your options fully and choose not to at this moment in time then the option is still there in the future. I don't know what the best answer is but just hope that you get the best outcome for you and your family. I know you are getting a kick in the teeth from all directions at the moment but I have taken some comfort personnally from what someone said to me a while back (when you are rock bottom and think things can not get any worse then they can't and the only way is up) It might be a bit at a time but trust me one day we will all be posting on here because we are on top of the world. Good luck.

You trust him Phil - he seems to be a lucky charm for my family!!