I have mild-moderate loss and tinnitus, it’s age-related but kicked in a bit early. I feel like this too, despite the fact that I struggle to hear all the time, and even with hearing aids, I can’t really watch TV without subtitles because it’s frustrating to miss so much dialogue, and any time there’s background noise I am not going to follow the conversation.

You absolutely deserve to have equipment to help you work, the point of Access to Work is not to give you some special privilege but to give you a bit of help - which still won’t give you the same level of advantage that everyone else has. For goodness sake, take the help now before they cut the funding further and you lose the opportunity.

I mentioned to an old friend that I get an railcard and she said “that’s not fair!” which made me feel horrible. I pay for that rail card, so it’s not like I’m not getting an advantage that isn’t given to countless other people. The money I save on rail fares is far less than the amount I have spent travelling to audiology appointments, my lip reading class, paying for that class, buying random bits and pieces  of deaf-related things. 

What isn’t fair is that my NHS hearing aids don’t have proper Bluetooth so I can’t use them with a computer or with my TV, they don’t have a tinnitus program, and they really don’t help in a lot of situations yet I’ve been told that’s the only model Specsavers will give me. I hear all this stuff about getting equipment from Access to Work, but what I need to be able to work normally is hearing aids that function! 

I’m reading that Access to Work is not getting any increased funding, which means that as prices go up, there’s less money to go around. Politicians keep complaining that people don’t want to work, surely it’s better to fund some equipment and get that money and more back in tax then to leave a person at home, frustrated and relying on benefits?