Your Letters - February 2010

Take a car for a spin? Just find a dealer who’ll let you

Helen Smith’s remark this month (“Ask the Experts”, Disability Now, January 2010) about trying out a car before buying it was almost perfect but please convey to Helen that taking a car for a test drive isn’t always possible.

Not many garages have vehicles one can try out, with or without disability adaptations. Recently I contacted Volkswagen. They only had a new car, it was already sold and I was told I couldn’t test drive it.

Mercedes, Sprinter and Vito didn’t have one available. Renault had one but it was sold. Seat had none. I could give you another four or five brands, all with the same reults.

I contacted Volkswagen and Mercedes UK and got almost identical replies: “It’s not up to us to dictate the availability or suitability of demonstrators held by our distributors.”

As a disabled person, I’m very disappointed in the way car distributors in this country serve disabled customers.

So much for offering a demo: it’s a cop out.

Raymond Hall, by email

Care costs nudging out other benefits?

I’m the carer of my 19-year-old grandson Joshua, who has severe learning disabilities (SLD). I’ve noticed that since he left school, everything is geared towards his going into supported/residential care.

The local authority will happily pay a private profit-making outfit £3,000 per week to take over Joshua’s care package while those of us who’ve cared for him for the last 19 years can’t get access to Housing Benefit, Direct Payments or any Care Allowance.

With more young people with SLD surviving into adulthood and going into care, where’s the money coming from?

Cliff Hayes, by email

It’s time to take steps to ban steps

Last March I attended a European Union conference in Barcelona on accessible tourism. One of the presentations was about accessible design. It was obvious that steps are very dangerous on health and safety grounds, so Peter Mitchell’s wish (“One To Watch”, Disability Now, January 2010) to introduce a law making steps illegal has some support!

Clive Durdle, by email

Employment support services force us to jump hoops to get disability recognised

My grandson, for whom I act as appointee for benefits, was seen by the community pyschiatric nurse (CPN) at his GP’s surgery, after exhibiting mental health issues.

He was referred to a consultant psychiatrist because he’d tried to harm himself. The CPN suggested he might be suffering from autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) with a higher than average IQ, and that this was the reason he had had difficulty fitting in during his school years and subsequently.

He claimed Employment Support Allowance (ESA) after leaving his first job because he’d been terribly bullied and physically assaulted and again after being made redundant twice.

In addition to this, in August this year, my grandson was involved in a road accident that left him facing 12 months’ rehabilitation because of the complexity of his injuries and will need to use a wheelchair during this time. He also has a broken arm and has needed a metal joint because the injury wasn’t picked up on in August.

He’s been placed in a “work-related activities group” by the employment support services, even though I’ve asked them repeatedly to write to his orthopaedic consultant to get verification that he’s injured and that his injuries will take over a year to heal. They won’t do that, nor do they need to, because they’ve been given power and authority to make sure that everyone has a job.

Under sickness benefit, my grandson’s incapacity would have been recognised with only his doctor saying when he’s fit for work. Now, under ESA, the only illness they’ll consider leaving anyone in peace with is terminal illness.

It looks as if we’re going to have to start building workhouses again to accomodate those who are too ill to work, whether short or long term, because there’s absolutely no sympathy.

Christine Stringer (Mrs), by email

Government says that home heating is only a personal issue

Like many other disabled people under 60 years of age, I can’t get the winter fuel allowance.

The reason I’ve been given for this refusal is that I get Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and that this covers the additional costs of being disabled, but what about the many who should get it but are turned down?

And how can the Government say we receive this benefit to cover heating costs? How long have heating costs been a “personal help”? The criterion for receiving this benefit is that it’s for a “personal need”, i.e. personal help from another human being, not a commodity.

Funny how the authorities move the goalposts to suit themselves, isn’t it?

Gillian Halliday, by email

Work still to be done

I worked before becoming disabled so I’ve experienced both lifestyles. Now, like most disabled people, I live below the poverty line and struggle to live an independent life. I feel marginalised and ignored. I see resources and help aimed at older people and younger people but not at disabled people in their 30s and 40s.

Not working erodes your confidence and I see a lot of disabled people who’ve just let themselves go. I’d like to see confidence-building courses run in libraries, places where many disabled people hang out when they have nowhere else to go.

Disability Now gives disabled people a voice but doesn’t reach enough people. I don’t see it in newsagents and I can only find it in one library. You need to get the message about disability rights and independent living out to more people.

Nicola Prevc, Camden