What Patchwork Hub Means to Me

What Patchwork Hub Means to Me


Jennifer Moulds shares her personal story of living with a chronic health condition and how Patchwork Hub has support her journey to finding work.


The past few years have been particularly difficult, but Patchwork Hub has filled me with hope.

 

In November 2016, I was in my second year at university and in bed with a nasty sore throat and high temperature. If someone had told me that it would take me several years to recover from this virus, I would not have believed them. Aftera couple of weeks of feeling exhausted and strange, my friends persuaded me tosee a GP. I was told that my dizziness, queasiness, and panic attacks were symptoms of post-viral postural tachycardia syndrome (where the autonomicnervous system stops working properly) and that I would be well again by Christmas. Instead, my health dramatically deteriorated. This climaxed in February 2017 when I was forced to suspend my studies and go home to be nursed by my mum. Nearly four years on, I am still recovering.

I have come a long way since that point in February. From being bedridden and needing constant care, I am now living semi-independently at university studying German. Family and friends help with laundry and shopping and I am fortunate enough to have a cleaner who visits the student accommodation daily – all of which allows me the time and strength to continue my studies. My timetable is reduced and my exams are spread out to make finishing my degree an achievable goal. While I am far from living the active life of my peers, I am so happy to be at a point when I can do the things I want to do again!

There have been many factors which have contributed to me reaching this level of health, including medication, physiotherapy, and changes to my diet. I have also been taught tools to manage panic and anxiety, which include cognitive behavioural therapy(CBT) and meditative practices.

 

Jennifer Moulds.

 

This wonderful stock of resources is allowing me to return to the life I want, but it has not yet given me the level of health which a conventional job would require. Many of my friends are now entering the world of employment and are expected to meeta set timetable of tasks and working hours, often involving a fluctuating workload which can be very intense at times. This is not sustainable for me.

Fatigue means work takes me longer than it used to and I work at 20-minute intervals to manage this. I lie down or recline in between to relieve the heart palpitations and fatigue-headaches which the stress and effort trigger. Even if these physical needs could be met at a future place of work, I am easily overwhelmed and drained by constant background noise and interaction with people. My symptoms are also worse early morning and in the evening, which, as a student, rules out most social events, but as an employee would worryingly diminish my working-day. How could I possibly manage the office jobs or paid internships of my friends? And what employer would pay me for a ‘day’ which would have to be so much shorter than 9-5 and for tasks that would take me longer to do than other people? And if I had a bad day, or a bad week, what then? A tutor might let me miss the occasional essay for health reasons, but this surely would notbe tolerated in a work setting.

Only one year to go until I graduate and these thoughts and doubts whirl in my mind. I was realising with a sort of hopeless sadness that, unless my health improves significantly over the next few months, it is not realistic for me to pursueany of the postgraduate jobs or studies that my peers are doing. With this in mind, I started looking through my university’s summer internship programme, hoping that this would help me gauge what I might physically manage and, importantly, what I might enjoy.

Because of Covid-19, many of the internships were now remote, so at least some of the obstacles (travelling and office environments) had been removed. It quickly became clear, though, that the workload for most of these positions would still be too high for me to reliably or realistically meet what was expected of the intern. Then I found PatchworkHub.

I had never heard of ‘flexible working’ before but I immediately recognised it as exactly what I have at university and exactly what I would need in any future employment. I was amazed to find that the exact problems I was facing had been recognised and were articulated in the company description. A “one-stop shop for somebody whose personal circumstances prevent them working a conventional 9 to 5 office job”. This was me! This was exactly what I need! I could not believe that a company existed to improve the very situation I found myself in.

I have been working as an intern with Patchwork Hub for about a month now. Researching articles and resources has opened my eyes to the world of flexible working, which is much more wide-reaching than I had first thought. Parents, the retired, carers, anyone looking for a better work-life balance need the conventional way of work to be reformed and need the services I am helping to create.

To be part of something so worthwhile and so needed has hugely improved my self-confidence, which had otherwise been knocked by chronic illness. And it is encouraging to learn that I am not the only one looking for an alternative form of employment! The more research I do for the company, the more I see that there are opportunities out there for anyone looking for greater flexibility. For example, I now know that freelance work might be a possibility for me after I graduate, something which I was nervous about before because of the unpredictability of my health. But with a company like Rev.com, I could translate and transcribe audio files, thereby using my German degree, while letting them do all the promotion and job-searching, allowing me to simply choose from their list of what is on offer.

This new knowledge of alternative employment possibilities and online resources means that I am finally looking forward to the future again. Patchwork Hub has taught me so much about how I might proceed after I graduate, but more importantly it has shown me that I am not alone in my need for greater flexibility. It is this element of community and support which has meant more to me than the job prospects. I now have role models of people working with illness and an assurance that this is possible. I am so grateful to PatchworkHub for facilitating widespread change to the workplace, and, importantly, uniting those who need this change. It has made me feel excited both for my future and for the future of work as a whole!

Thankyou, Patchwork Hub, for giving me hope again.

 

Someone reading a book

 

 

All Tags
Academy for Disabled Journalists Academy for Disabled SEO Specialists Accessibility Accessibility information Accessibility int he workplace Accessibility ramps Accessible education Accessible locations Accessible places Acid reflux Adaptive fashion Advocacy AI All Saints Alt text Assistive technology Autism Awareness Blog Bullying Burnout Business Businesses Cancer Candidates Captions Cerebral palsy Characters Charity Charity sector Chronic pain Closed captions Clothes Clothing Cognitive disabilities Comfort zone Communication Companies Company Company Corner Company culture Confidence Confucius Consultant Consultation Content creator Content designer Data talent Diagnosis Difference Digital transformation Disabilities Disability advocate Disability advocates Disability awareness Disability community Disability confident Disability employment Disability inclusion Disability news Disability Policy Centre Disability Pride Disabled Disabled community Disabled people Disabled People’s Direct Action Network Disabled team Disabled-led Diverse Diversity Diversity and inclusion Diversity Recruitment Platform Domestic violence Dysfluency Education Education and resource platform Employment opportunities Empowerment Ethnic minorities Fashion Fashion industry Fathom Feedback Flexible work Freelance Game Gaming Gareth Walkom Garment technologist Gastrointestinal conditions Gem Turner Gender Grant Logan Guide dog Healthcare Homeworking HR Hybrid working Inclusion Inclusivity India Inspiration Intellectual capabilities Interview process Interviews Invisible disabilities Invisible disability Isaac Harvey Isaac Harvey MBE Istituto Marangoni Jack Wills Job descriptions Job interviews Job opportunities Journalism Journalists Learning disability Leeds Leeds trinity university Legislation LGBTQ+ Limb-pelvic hypoplasia LinkedIn LinkedIn influencer London London Fashion Week Long-term health condition Long-term health conditions Mapping days Matt Pierri Maya angelou Meta Metaverse Migrants Motivation Musculoskeletal conditions National Council for the Training of Journalists NCTJ Neurodivergence Neurodivergent Neurodiversity consultant Neurodiversity space Neurotype Neurotypes New Delhi News Non-profit Novos OBS Office environment Partially sighted People Phase Eight Phone calls Physical disabilities Pirate video games Policy Poverty Presentations Primark Processes and systems Public speaking Puneet Singh Singhal Race Raising awareness Registered blind Remote education Remote work Removing barriers Rights School Scoliosis Scope Selection process Self-employed Self-employment Senior staff Sexuality Shaw trust Shaw trust power 100 list Sign language Social mission Social mobility Social-emotional learning Social-emotional learning platform Software Speaking situation Speech differences Speech disabilities Speech impediment Spotlight series Spotlight stories Ssstart Staff Stammer Stammering Stories Stuttering Sustainable change Sweaty Betty Tech industry Tech talent TEDx Tesco Think tank Underrepresentation Unhidden Unhidden Clothing Universities Vanessa Castañeda Gill Victoria Beckham Video editor Video game Vimeo Violence Virtual reality VR Web accessibility Wheels and Wheelchairs Women Work environment Work from home Working conditions Working from home Workplace adjustments Youth Zoom Abc Ability Today Access to work Accessibility in the workplace Accessibility test Accessible work Acting Adhd Adjustments Administrative Adrian lord Advice Advocacy and campaigns Allparty parliamentary group for inclusive entrepreneurship American civil rights movement Android Anglonorman App Artificial intelligence Bad grammar Barriers to work Bbc Benefits Blind persons act Blue badge Blue badge service specialists Care Career Carer Celtic languages Center on everyday lives of families Ceo Cfs Chloe tear Chronic fatigue syndrome Chronic health condition Chronic illness Commodo aute beatae Community Community story Community, community story, founder, feature, accessible work, disability employment gap, making a difference Companies house Compressed hours Computer science Computers Coronavirus Councils Covid19 Crystal mark standard Deaf Design Dialects Dictionary Digital accessibility Disability Disability discrimination act Disability employment gap Disability rights movement Disability services Disabled peoples direct action network Disabled persons employment act Disabled-led organisation Easy read Edit Tag Test 2 Email address Employers Employment English English speakers Entrepreneur Entrepreneurship Epilepsy Equality Equality act Equality and diversity Equality of access Esources, disability, disability services, support services, community story, features, adjustments, social support network Esse vero eum nisi a Eugenics Facebook Feature Features Fibromyalgia First world war Flexi Flexible working Flexitime Flextime Founder Francesco cirillo Freelancing French Gcses Gdpr General data protection regulation Good Good grammar Google Government policy Government support Graduate Graduates Grammar Grammar schools Health Health condition Health conditions Hearing impairment Help And Support Tags History History of language Holistic Ico Impact Imposter syndrome Inclusive entrepreneur network Inequalities Inequality Information commissioners office Information governance Instagram Internet Jacqueline winstanley Laborum Magna moles Language Latin Law Learning difficulties Lexicographers Limited company Local councils Local government Making a difference Marketing strategy Mecfs Medical conditions Medical model of disability Medical vs social models of disability Medicines Mental health Middle english Mindfulness Mlm Mobility issues Molestias quod sapie Multilevel marketing Nam eaque iure aut v National league of the blind Neurodiversity Nihil corporis aliqu Niya Normans Old english Old french Onboarding and retention Online Out of work Oxbridge Parent Passwords Patchwork hub Payment details Planning Planning for work Podcasts Pomodoro Preposition Private schools Psychiatric Psychiatry Punctuation Qui voluptatem debi React Reasonable adjustments Recruitment Remote working Resources Resources and support Rest Retinopathy of prematurity Sales Scam Search engine Second world war Shell shock Slang Sociability Social Cipher Social interactions Social media Social model of disability Social support network Socialising Spelling Spoken language Spotlight series Spotlight stories Standard english Startup State schools Student Students Studying Suffragette movement Support Support services Syntactician Syntax Tag Technology The Disability Policy Centre The elderly Then barbara met alan Trafalgar square Turkish United nations Universal inclusion University University of arts london University of cambridge University of hertfordshire University of hull University of leeds University of oxford Victoria Jenkins Visual impairment War Ways of working West germanic dialects William shakespeare Windsor consultations WithVR Wordpress Work structure Workforce recruitment Working environment Workplace barriers World war one World war two Young carer

Cookies

By continuing to use this website you are agreeing to the use of cookies. For further details, review our Cookie Policy.

Change Settings