Focus on Employment and Education
For ME Awareness Week (7th – 13th May), the ME Association has chosen to focus on two specific issues: employment and education. We want to raise awareness and understanding of:
the struggle to hold down a job,- the fear of losing a job and facing an uncertain future reliant on benefits,
- the effect that giving up a career and the loss of employment can have,
- the uncertainty of life on benefits,
- the loss of education,
- the difficulties encountered when trying to continue in education,
- the successes and disappointments that studying can bring.
Website survey
Our website survey on employment has now closed and will be examining the results during ME Awareness Week, but today we have published a survey on education and would be grateful if you took some time to make your experiences known.
You can find ‘Our Monthly Quick Survey’ on the Homepage of our website (towards the bottom of the page).
Please complete the poll and, if you have anything else you want to tell us or an experience you would like to share then let us know.
Please share your experiences
We are looking for summary accounts of your experience of education. Perhaps:
- you have been able to return to education and manage but are worried about catching-up,
- continuing your studies remains an impossible goal,
- you struggle to study and need to crash when home and have surrendered all attempts at a social life,
- you are falling behind and are worried about ever passing your exams,
- you have needed home-tutoring, or additional support, but are still finding study difficult,
- you’d like to tell us how hard you tried to stay in education,
- you succeeded in education despite M.E. and could share some of the things you found useful.
You might also like to tell us about how your school, college or university has helped make your studies more accessible, or maybe they let you down. Whatever your story, we'd really like to hear from you.
We hope to be able to then share these stories – or extracts from them – on our website and social media and in the local and national press (where we can).
Please try and keep your submission to a maximum of 250 words.
You can use our contact form to email your story or to highlight a personal issue,
Please title your email: ME Awareness Week Education
Any stories we use, or extracts taken, will remain anonymous unless we seek your specific consent.
Help Raise Awareness of M.E.
If you would like to join the ME Association and Go BLUE for ME Awareness Week, if you want to do something that will raise awareness of M.E.; then there are several things that might help:
- Visit the Get Involved section our website for ideas, a campaign poster, and details of how you can take part in the campaign
Visit the JustGiving Campaign page which lists other events and activities you might want to support. You can also use this page to start your own fundraising activity, simply click on the orange ‘start fundraising’ button.- Contact our fundraising manager, Helen Hyland, if you require any help or support. She can also help you organise an event or activity. You can reach her by phone (01280 838964) or by email.
- For a list of the events taking place up and down the country before, during, and after ME Awareness Week, take a look at our Events Guide. And get in touch if you’d like us to feature your own event.
- If you are unable to organise something yourself, please show your support with any donation you can spare.
Thank you.
#GoBlue4ME
Text: BLUU47 £5 to 70070