Help Cel Survive & Finish Uni
Donation protected
Hi!
I'm Cel and sadly I really need your help.
It's been my dream all my life to go back to Uni and do something I love. Despite managing several disabilities I was able to do that in 2010, and even go to Iceland and Spain on Erasmus exchange while netting a 2:1 for that year. I'm just 18,000 words away from finishing the entire degree. My first final year essay got a high 1st, and if I can just make it to September I'll be done.
The problem is that as well as being disabled I'm also trans, and England in 2015 is a hell of a place to be either of those, let alone both.
I survived cancer, but can't get a student loan due to austerity changes. When I claimed ESA, the DWP fraud department stated I am a “man” and a “fraud”, and issued me with a Benefit Card against my will. When I tried to take out money in newsagents signed up to the scheme, they refuse as it's “too much hassle”. I'm still pretty scared that the DWP Fraud team will involve the police. The last trans woman I know who was arrested died in a male prison, and I'm not sure my Gender Recognition Certificate would protect me any more.
The DWP refused to communicate with me or my PACE advocate, and has been stalling lawyers for over five months. Right now, I'm totally stuck.
I was made homeless in November last year, as I couldn't find a guarantor for my old place in time. Since then I've been couchsurfing, which isn't hugely conducive to being healthy or finishing my degree.
My health problems make it pretty hard to work. Basically, after half a dozen two-hour-each-way trips to the doc I finally have antibiotics and painkillers, and, if, while I take them, I manage to to get to the gym to burn off the joint pain (I would jog, but the London smog means asthma says no), and I don't wake up to 50 messages in my inbox from transphobes calling me a “man” and a “rapist”, then, sometimes then, I feel sort of okay.
So because of all that I had to leave four of my last five jobs due to health. Trying to get another job seems ridic until my health improves. I'm looking into working from home, but as I keep pointing out it's pretty hard to work from home while homeless. Also, that degree needs finished.
A friend is helping with a homeless application. I don't know if that has a chance, or if I'll ever be able to access ESA before the welfare state is rolled up, put into a bag, and carried away.
So please. If you have a bit of spare money, I'd be incredibly grateful. £1500 is sort of above and beyond – if my housing arrangements break down it means I could rent some student accommo right next to uni and finish for sure. But anything you have will let me eat, pay my oyster card, cover my maxed-out credit cards, let me cover prescription charges, and pay that £5 gym session fee.
Thanks so much just for reading.
I'm Cel and sadly I really need your help.
It's been my dream all my life to go back to Uni and do something I love. Despite managing several disabilities I was able to do that in 2010, and even go to Iceland and Spain on Erasmus exchange while netting a 2:1 for that year. I'm just 18,000 words away from finishing the entire degree. My first final year essay got a high 1st, and if I can just make it to September I'll be done.
The problem is that as well as being disabled I'm also trans, and England in 2015 is a hell of a place to be either of those, let alone both.
I survived cancer, but can't get a student loan due to austerity changes. When I claimed ESA, the DWP fraud department stated I am a “man” and a “fraud”, and issued me with a Benefit Card against my will. When I tried to take out money in newsagents signed up to the scheme, they refuse as it's “too much hassle”. I'm still pretty scared that the DWP Fraud team will involve the police. The last trans woman I know who was arrested died in a male prison, and I'm not sure my Gender Recognition Certificate would protect me any more.
The DWP refused to communicate with me or my PACE advocate, and has been stalling lawyers for over five months. Right now, I'm totally stuck.
I was made homeless in November last year, as I couldn't find a guarantor for my old place in time. Since then I've been couchsurfing, which isn't hugely conducive to being healthy or finishing my degree.
My health problems make it pretty hard to work. Basically, after half a dozen two-hour-each-way trips to the doc I finally have antibiotics and painkillers, and, if, while I take them, I manage to to get to the gym to burn off the joint pain (I would jog, but the London smog means asthma says no), and I don't wake up to 50 messages in my inbox from transphobes calling me a “man” and a “rapist”, then, sometimes then, I feel sort of okay.
So because of all that I had to leave four of my last five jobs due to health. Trying to get another job seems ridic until my health improves. I'm looking into working from home, but as I keep pointing out it's pretty hard to work from home while homeless. Also, that degree needs finished.
A friend is helping with a homeless application. I don't know if that has a chance, or if I'll ever be able to access ESA before the welfare state is rolled up, put into a bag, and carried away.
So please. If you have a bit of spare money, I'd be incredibly grateful. £1500 is sort of above and beyond – if my housing arrangements break down it means I could rent some student accommo right next to uni and finish for sure. But anything you have will let me eat, pay my oyster card, cover my maxed-out credit cards, let me cover prescription charges, and pay that £5 gym session fee.
Thanks so much just for reading.
Organizer
Cel West
Organizer
