Ask the Experts

Teach me to drive!

Q I’m a disabled learner driver wanting driving lessons. The trouble is, I’ve been unable to find any instructors with dual hand push-pull controls, or where I’d be able to drive from my wheelchair. I did find one instructor whose lessons were OK, but the distance was too great and the travel costs too high. I’ve tried any number of avenues but I’ve not had any success.
Ellen Pritchard, by email

Helen Dolphin offers this advice: I’m sorry to hear you’re having so many problems finding an instructor. A register of driving instructors for disabled people is published by the Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation on a yearly basis. If you give Mobilise a ring on 01508 489449 we will be very happy to provide you with a list of instructors in the area where you live who may be able to help.

I'm desperate: how can I get rehoused?

Q My name has been on the local housing list for an adapted property for nearly three years. Despite getting my local MP, council leader, housing officer and social worker involved, I’ve still not been rehoused.

I’m currently living in an unadapted terraced house in a small village with my parents (both of whom are retired) and the situation is starting to affect us all. I can’t easily shop or go out. I haven't been able to have a shower for almost a year and I have to empty my catheter bag into a milk bottle because I can’t get to the bathroom independ­ently. For the same reason I have no privacy because I can’t go upstairs to my bedroom by myself, and my parents see all the post that arrives for me.

The strains are showing in the fact that we are arguing all the time, and our physical and emotional health is suffering.

I’ve been told to look at how my human rights are being breached but I haven’t got any experience in this area. Can you help? No one seems to realise the urgency of the situation. I’m desperate.  
Name withheld, by email

Kate Sheehan says: This is a very sad case and one that’s happening all over the country. The problem is that there’s a limited stock of housing association and council housing. Combined with new tenancy changes coming into force, this means that people are loathe to move.

You seem to have done all you can to try and move your rehousing forward. That said, have you explored all the possible adaptation possibilities on your parents’ home? And have you directly contacted local housing associations about new build or direct allocation?

The only other option is for your parents to ask you to leave. Then you would be deemed homeless and therefore be seen as the highest need on the re-housing list. I know this is really unsatisfactory but it’s the only answer I can give.

What are the Government's plans for DLA?

Q Do you know if the suggestion going round that people over 65 will no longer get the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is true, or is it meant to be for new claimants only, and those already in receipt of the DLA higher rate mobility component? Do you know if those in care will still receive it? Also, are children and over 65s to be the subject of assessments or is it only for people of working age?
Irene King, by email
 
Neil Coyle of Disability Alliance replies: The Government’s Welfare Reform Bill will abolish DLA for working age adults (16-64 years of age). People currently over 65 but receiving DLA appear to have avoided this round of cuts. Working-age disabled people will need to be re-assessed for a new benefit called the Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

The Government’s aim in introducing the PIP is to cut 20 per cent of DLA costs by 2015-16, a saving of £2.1 billion. They are hoping to do this by paying £675 million for a new assess­ment process to ensure the PIP is not accessed by as many people as DLA.

The PIP will also have no equivalent low rate care payment, meaning that the 643,000 people receiving this support from DLA are now at risk of losing help.
However, the Welfare Reform Bill does include provisions automatically to end PIP payments at the point when someone retires or turns 65 (whichever is higher). This means that people receiving PIP would have to apply for Attend­ance Allowance (AA).

AA provides no mobility support and, if enacted, this change could see thousands of older disabled people losing support and the ability to stay independent.

The changes also mean that a 61-year-old man who has recently qualified for DLA may face a new PIP test in two years’ time and a further AA assessment when he reaches 65, with potential cuts to support and independence with each new assessment.

At Disability Alliance, we think the new PIP test will waste public resources. The Government’s plans may have knock-on costs during this tough economic period, through rising (but avoidable) NHS use, increased demands on council support and losses to the Treasury from disabled people and carers being forced to reduce or give up work.