In 2014 I was 23 years old when I had an accident diving into a swimming pool and sustained a C6 spinal cord injury. I was first taken to Southampton Hospital and then transferred to the Salisbury Spinal Injury Centre where I spent eight months.

Before my accident I had been living at home with my family but that property was not suitable anymore, so I moved into a local authority two bedroom flat. It took time for me to come to terms with my situation and I suppose I fell into a comfort zone being a single man at home most of the time and gradually becoming withdrawn from day to day life.  

My family and friends were very good to me and helped me to start thinking about the future and bring some focus back into my life.  I reached out to social groups of people in similar situations to me and although initially it was for my benefit, increasingly I found I was helping others just by talking through the experiences I had gone through.  Now I always speak to people, particularly those who have just left hospital with a spinal cord injury.  I feel this has been a massive achievement for me and in a way it helps me to help them.  I am also more confident and active including playing wheelchair rugby every week.

I heard about Aspire when I was in hospital. I had some Money Matters sessions which were over the phone and conversations which helped identify things that were of interest to me.  I had a pretty good handle on most money related things but these conversations did bring to light a few things of interest.

It was helpful that Phil, Aspire’s Money Matters Specialist, gave simple explanations of things followed up by emails with specific local links, including the Disabled Band Reduction Scheme, the Government state pension forecast and budgeting guidance from a free and impartial website.

The information has made it easy for me to find out more, so much so that I have now put in an appeal as the council tax band on my flat may be incorrect.  I await the outcome.

As the old saying goes “it’s good to talk” and that has been the case for me, not only with Aspire but also with other disabled people as we all benefit from sharing experiences. 

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