Donald's story

I've never been the type of person to sit around and watch the telly or do nothing. Before I got ill, I worked full time as a landscape gardener.

I had a stroke. I was trying to build my strength back up to go back to work when I got bitten by a tick. I went straight to the doctor, but it took them eight months to diagnose me with Lyme disease. The doctor put my symptoms down to the stroke. By the time I got the diagnosis, it was too late to reverse them

I was more and more tired. I can't do more than 30 minutes activity in a day without complete exhaustion. If I walk about for an hour, then I'm a day recovering. I can't stand up for long periods of time without getting dizzy. I can't work.

I saw a locum neurologist who told me about a clinic in another health board within the South of Scotland that deals with Lyme disease that could have me up and back to 90% normal within a year. He referred me, but I was rejected because that service doesn't exist here, and doctors won't refer you out of the Borders.

I have tried talking to ministers and even taking it to the ombudsman, but still nothing has been done about it. We don't have a national health service, we've got a regional health service. I'm just left in limbo, unable to work and unable to get better, even though I know that there's a solution out there.

There's so much stigma around claiming social security.  I held out for months after I got first got ill and ended up in getting into debt, trying to get myself into a position where I was fit enough to work. When I did sign on, you could tell by the tone of the form that you are now being treated as a scrounger, as scum, as the dregs of society.

I've been working for thirty years, paying taxes and contributing to the economy, it's like going from that to just being the dregs. There must be a better way.

So, I tried lots of different things, but my energy just wasn't there to see them through. I tried painting, and I was able to do it and it kind of took my mind off the pain. It has been therapeutic because it makes me feel like I'm doing something, creating something.

I'm trying to make a contribution by selling art. Last year I set up an official business. It's been hard finding places to show my work here. There aren't any galleries in the Borders and it's expensive to go elsewhere, especially because the public transport makes it so difficult.

The buses are every hour and a half. It takes forever to get to where you want to go. My kids get free bus passes, but we still have to drive them everywhere because it takes so long on public transport. That all costs money and we're living month to month as it is.

I'm also afraid that if I do sell my art, my benefits will be cut. I don't understand how it all works.

The government are targeting people like me, saying we should be working or contributing or something, but they're not offering any options, not saying, right, we'll guarantee you a minimum income while you get back on your feet, or we'll help you get set up with your business. There's nothing like that.

We're resourceful people, we can find ways of doing things, but when you don't have the physical strength to do it, then we can't.

If they're going to leave us on the scrap heap like this, then at least give us a way off, so that we can move forward and not be trapped in limbo. In the future, I'd like to see everyone getting the treatment they deserve.

This is an excerpt from the SHRC's report on economic, social and cultural rights in the South of Scotland. ESC rights touch on every part of our daily lives and often have an impact on one another. The stories in this report demonstrate how human rights issues can affect people's lives.