u/Leading_Purple1729

So I am disabled. My employer has an office near my home address but it is not accessible for me (my wheelchair can't fit in the lift, no disabled parking, no evac chair operatives to get me out in an emergency etc.). As a result of my disability OT has advised I work from home, however I can't reasonably be expected to work from the office anyway. My disability is dynamic but degenerative so I will have and unpredicatble scattering of good days and bad days but will get progressively worse until I die. HR have refused to give me a working from home contract, this was asked for as part of a contract renegotiation last year, so the official document I got says I have to be in the office 3 times a week.

As I work from home, my employer has covered most of my major expenses since this stopped being my choice (desk, chair, headset etc). However, I have a bunch of work-only expenses (stationary, paper and printer, textbooks) I purchase out of pocket because I can't access the company's physical library and I don't go into an office often enough to collect from there. We also had to upgrade our broadband to meet my working requirements as I needed better connectivity.

From what I am reading about the rules of tax deductible expenses these would not meet the requirements of the law as tax deductible, (I don't have a wfh contract and there is an office nearby) unless there is a special clause for disabled. Can anybody advise if there is a way for me to claim these as a deductible expense? I figure it is easier to do this than sit on hold with HMRC for a few hours.

I recieve PIP but that doesn't cover my in-home help, let alone my wheelchair and other mobility aids, I don't qualify for much free help at my worse because I am independent still at my best, so on the "average" I narrowly miss out, just hoping this may help ease the burden.

I first developed multiple joint pain without an apparent cause in March 2024. I was diagnosed in July with PsA, which was as I entered a period of remission, but come September 2024, it was back and the process of selecting a DMARD to begin treatment was started.

In November 2024 I started noticing lower back pain. December 2024, x-ray of lower back noticed no physical defects (I had a spinal trauma in 2021 so this was checked), it also indicated no secondary signs of inflammation.

In January 2025 I started my first DMARD, which failed (did nothing beyond making me feel like sh*t). I commenced a second one around June 2025 and things were better controlled from September. That said, I still had flare ups of higher disease activity and I needed some tweaking of the dose.

About 6 weeks ago I had an MRI on my back, this is approximately 18 months after I first started getting symptoms in my lower back, and 6 of those months I had improved, but not good disease control from a DMARD.

My spine is already showing signs of osteoarthritis due to the toll the psoratic arthritis has taken. I can't recover from that, these are permenant degenerative changes. The DMARD is curently controlling my inflammation really well so these changes will hopefully stop now.

Please don't wait, get treatment. In just a year to 18 months this disease can damage your body, and it can take a while to find the right medication and dose for you.

I travel by train in the UK on approximately a monthly basis. I book my assistance in advance of travel and yet I still run into problems on most trips.

Previously problems include assistance not showing up to get me off the train, people sitting in fold down seats in the wheelchair space and refusing to move. Usual shit. A lot of the assistance staff will "clear" the wheelchair space for me so I don't have to deal with the confrontation but I still get evil eyes etc so it is a bit crappy.

The one that really pisses me off though is luggage in the wheelchair space. Either before I get there and the owner refusing to come forward and move their bag or people stacking their bags around me like I am a piece of luggage. Blocking my exit so if there was an emergency I would be trapped or their bag would become a missle and collide with me (normally claiming they would simply move the bag to let me out in an emergency like 60 people charging through that door, tripping over their bag wouldn't inhibit that in any way).

Today I am travelling on a cross country service. Their trains have the smallest wheelchair space I have experienced (they are in the process of refurbishing their trains so the shiny new ones might be better) and the table is fixed hieght and small so I struggle to work etc. But today they made an announcement that made my day.

If luggage is in a wheelchair space and a wheelchair user needs it, staff will remove the luggage, put it on the train platform and leave it there. We have priority to these spaces by law so it is great to see them have a policy to enforce it.

This is primarily a vent, because I don't think anybody in my life in person gets it, but also I am asking for tips.

I don't really like people touching me in the first place, I love it with my SO, am ok with it for close friends and family, but anybody else it is a highly stressful and unpleasant experience for me, this has been true for years long before the chair. On top of that I have a lot of inflammation in my body and most parts are very sensitive/painful to touch and therefore any contact with me (incl. pushing my chair when I am not leaning forward) causes me a lot of pain. Add on the wheels mean so many people feel they don't need my consent to grab my chair, or they seem to feel they can override my autonomy it just makes going out super stressful, not to mention painful.

I have fold down handles that I keep folded down unless I consent to being pushed or pulled, but still people grab me, sometimes just pushing onto my back which causes me to scream out in pain and then this random often gets stroppy even though they technically just assaulted me. Most of the time after I have asked them not to, but some never talk to me at all. The kind if comments I have gotten from objecting verbally is "I am just helping" or from a bystander "people are just being nice you don't have to be like that". Like I am the problem for not wanting a stranger's hands on me without my consent.

I am fiercely independent, sometimes to a fault, but that is my choice and I don't feel like I am doing anything truely wrong by still living my life as independently as possible. If I overdo it, I'll be the one dealling with it tomorrow.

I want to be clear I am super appreachiative of those people who offer help and respect my autonomy, and I try my best to show that with a smile and genuine thanks. I do also know that those people who behaving inappropriately almost certainly have good intentions, but it still feels like a series of microagressions that at times weigh me down.

My SO suggested I put a "Don't Touch Me" sign on the back of my chair, but I am convinced that won't stop those who are so convinced them violating me is the right thing to do, they don't listen when I say "no" so I have no faith in a sign. I also don't want to use spikes because I often have a bag on the back of my chair and spikes would mean I can't get it on or off easily without hurting myself. With fold down handles people just push on my back so spiked handles probably won't make any difference.

Any suggestions? Or do I just need to keep meditating so I don't develop a violent streak /j