Your letters - June 2008

Article sparked memories

I found the your article ‘Families Torn Apart’ (Disability Now March) very interesting. It brought back memories of the mixed reaction we encountered when we had our children. My husband and I both use wheelchairs. We had three children and are now grandparents to eight children. I was shocked and clueless when I became pregnant with my first child, Mark. What threw me further was that the gynaecologist at the antenatal clinic said to me: “We'll solve your problem for you. We'll give you a termination.” I did get some help and support while I was pregnant, but the professionals giving it were almost as clueless as I was. When I got home from hospital, we had an extraordinary round of health visitors, midwives and social workers all telling us different things. I’m sure there were things that I didn't do right because of so many conflicting opinions. Looking back, I feel the professionals may have been looking for reasons to take Mark away, but they didn't find any. I feel very sorry for parents who've had their children taken away when more help and support could have been given to help them over the crises.
Sue Jamieson, via email


Camping is an in-tents experience

I am disabled due to back problems, and after reading your article (Disability Now May, Road to Nowhere), I wondered how many disabled people have thought about holidays in a tent? We have been doing this for the last 16 years. It is quite easy if, like me, you have able-bodied people in your family. Most modern tents have level access. If they do not, then go along to any store that sells caravan equipment and buy two pairs of levelling wedges to put each side of the entrance. Look online and you will find higher raised airbeds, which do a great job. If you use a powered wheelchair, you can get a power inverter that runs from the lighter in your car. Also you may find on campsites with disabled facilities that they may charge your chair for you overnight. The site my family and I visit charge my
powerchair for £1 per night in their charity box. This type of holiday is quite cheap and so much fun. You should see the faces on people when I ride my wheelchair out of the tent. It brightens up my day and my family’s.
Guy Bryant, via email

Budget changes will push disabled people further into poverty

I am angered by the abolition of the 10p tax threshold, and the government’s monotonous assertions that families with children will be protected through the tax credit system. I wish they would understand that poverty doesn’t just live with children and their families. Poverty is the bedbug of anyone whose resources – financial, technical, educational and personal – are insufficient to execute their rights to equal and full citizenship. Like many other disabled people on the taxable incapacity benefit, I will suffer disproportionately from this budget decision. We will have no protection from the abolition of the 10p tax threshold. We will have no tax credit and no heating allowances. But we do have increases in our food, petrol, housing, energy and community care bills. It is therefore inevitable that this loss  of income will push disabled people further into the quagmire of poverty. And does the government care? 
James Elder-Woodward, Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire

Blue badges: grey area

I have been following the raging debate on blue badges with interest. You say there are too many people being given blue badges, the scheme needs tightening up and there are too many people parking in disabled spots (Disability Now April, Road Test). While I was waiting for my disability living allowance (and then blue badge) application to be processed, I parked in a disabled bay and was confronted by an aggres­sive man in a wheelchair who told me I should not have been using the space until I had the badge. Disabled people with blue badges themselves should not be criticising or trying to restrict others from getting a badge. We should all be working together to make the government acknowledge that there are probably far more people with mobility problems than anyone realised and proper support should be provided. We need better provision for those with temporary, but severe, mobility problems, and to speed up the DLA claim process and the badge-claiming process.
Jill Honeybun, Lymington, Hampshire

The biggest abusers of blue badges are those inconsiderate anti-social friends and relatives who abuse the system by displaying the badge when they have no right to use it. From my surveys, I can say that around 75 per cent of spaces are taken up by these friends and relatives.
Tony Wyer, via email

I went to Sainsbury’s in Kimberley, Nottinghamshire, a few days ago. There were at least 12 cars parked in disabled bays not showing a blue badge. It just shows the staff at this store do not care about disabled people.
Robert Lunn, via email

I was involved in a near-fatal car crash and I often have difficulty walking and getting out of bed due to spinal problems. I also have a brain injury. I have a friend who also has spinal problems, but because we don't look disabled, we are constantly bombarded at carparks by other drivers who do not believe we have reason for a blue badge, and therefore practically demand proof. These times are extremely disheartening and anxiety-provoking.
Myriam Breton Jones, via email

Report gave me hump

I enjoyed the article ‘Make room at the top table’ (Disability Now May, Andy Rickell) and I totally agree that the Office for Disability Issues (ODI) should be given a much higher status. My husband and I were twice invited to take part in a survey carried out by the ODI. When we received the summary of the results and the annual report for 2007, we were amazed that they did not contain one word about the problems experi­enced by disabled people on our roads. I wrote to the ODI and the minister for disabled people, pointing out that the humps and bumps, ripples and rumble strips used for traffic-calming are causing some disabled people a lot of suffering. They hurt. When I finally received a reply it came from the Department for Work and Pensions. As Andy Rickell rightly pointed out, this makes it look as if the government’s main interest is in benefits and jobs. This is why I think there should be a separate government department for disability issues.
Mrs S Hillman, Rugby, Warwickshire

Clarification: Last month, we published a letter from a reader which suggested that women born after 6 April, 1950, would now have to wait until they are 65 to receive a state pension. Unfortunately, our reader had misunderstood a letter she had been sent by the Pensions Service. The women’s state pension age will increase to 65, but this change will be gradually introduced between 2010 and 2020, so her retirement is likely to be delayed by only a few months.