simon,

sorry to hear about the hard time you are having with this illness.

it's hard to give someone any advice, because what works for one, may be quite the opposite for the other.

all I can say from my own experience, is that what may be quite overwhelming initially, can be dealt with eventually.

and that it is possible to find innovative ways to do almost everything, even be a DJ with occassional speaking problems, if you are ready to make the effort to do that, and find those that will help you with it.

from my experience at least, more times then not, if you are ready to honestly discuss your dissabilities, as well as what you do have to offer, people will be quite ready to accept it.

my rehab physician once said to me-if someone wants to succeed in climbing the everest, he/she has to be well prepared, and we each have our own "everest", and if we are well prepared for it, we can eventually climb it, without crashing or having to be rescued.

I hope this never happens to you again, but even if it does, I am sure you will find the way to work around it.

alice