Your Letters - May 2008

Government should keep its hands off our DLA

I read Jim Elder-Woodward's article (Disability Now April, Disability Rights) with alarm. Disabled people must vigorously fight a proposal for local authorities to carry out means-tested, community care assessments for benefits that replace disability living allowance (DLA) and attendance allowance (AA). These benefits were never intended for councils to use towards social care costs. Such a policy must never be allowed to happen.
Joan Wade, by email

Has this government gone absolutely barmy? Once a local authority takes over DLA it will disappear into the black hole of local government and never be seen again. My husband and I rely on the DLA mobility allowance to keep our car on the road (we live in a rural area). Will we have to go through a "financial assessment" to get this money? I can guarantee we will not receive the same amount we get now. Will the money be ring-fenced and for how long? This government gave councils money to pay for carers to have an occasional break. This money was ring-fenced for a while. In our area it seems to have made little or no difference and one can only wonder where the money is being spent. The same thing will happen to DLA if local authorities take it over.
Glynise Dunn, by email

Life on incapacity benefit is no breeze

Labelled as a "scrounger", facing a restricted life, often in pain and fear, the road of disablement and the benefit system is not a breeze. Most people have had to fight, facing endless forms, degrading medicals, tribunals and benefit checks, while living in fear of losing their homes, coping with health problems and a lack of support from social services and doctors. This is hardly a "something for nothing culture". I am not opposed to working, despite physical limitations, and if it was so easy I would like nothing more than to get off the degrading benefits system. Sadly, there are real barriers into work this government is doing very little about. My local transport is not wheelchair-accessible and taxi fares to my nearest town are £12 one way. Three in four employers have not heard of access to work, and 70 per cent would not interview a person who has had mental illness. Working increases personal equipment wear and tear costs. And with private organisations to help people into work being paid by results, people could be pushed into unsuitable and low-paid work.
Karen Francis, Dorset, by email

Deaf people should be allowed to choose a Deaf embryo

It was with disappointment that I read your “Deaf embryo row” article (Disability Now April, Breaking News). No-one is asking to create Deaf embryos. Deaf  people are merely asking for them not to be deliberately destroyed. As the disabled mother of a profoundly deaf son, I can see the difference between being disabled and being Deaf. My son is a very fulfilled and happy member of a linguistic minority. He doesn't see himself as having an impairment in the same way that I view myself.
Jill Medlock, Peterborough

System could not cope with 2.3million re-assessments

In Helen Smith’s article on the vagaries of blue badge misuse (Disability Now April, Road Test), the methods of assessment past, present and future are called into question. Let us be realistic about this. The system is not geared up to re-assessing 2.3 million people within six months.
J G Dowse, Sutton-on-Sea, Lincolnshire

Winter fuel system is so unfair

I have just been reading your article about winter fuel payments (Disability Now April, Campaigns). Why do the over-60s get £200 (to rise to £250) and the over-80s get £300 (to rise to £400)? I am 47 years old and disabled, and when it gets damp and frosty I suffer from bad pain that stops me from doing a lot. All I get is £10 as a Christmas bonus.
G Goodwillie, Dartford, Kent

Seven years is too long to wait for food and fuel

I'll be 58 this year and have been looking forward to being 60 when I can finally receive the winter fuel grant. Imagine my horror and anger when I received a letter stating that everything is changing in 2010 and people born after April 6, 1950, will have to wait until they are 65 to receive the state pension and winter fuel grant. So I will have to wait another seven years to decide whether I should have food on the table or warmth in my home. Why can't we, who receive the higher mobility allowance because we can't get around, get a small grant? Even £50 would help.
Carol Fox, Stevenage, Herts

Young people need to know more about sexual health

I would like to strongly support Alice Welbourn's timely comments (Disability Now March, Guest Column). Some of us who have worked with young people for years in sexual health have found it extremely frustrating in trying to address the lack of access young people have to proper education and information so they can make safe and informed decisions. I feel young disabled people are even more isolated and have less access to information on sexual health. When I have tried to contact disability organisations, it has been very difficult to get any idea of any education or information programmes.
Grindl Dockery, Liverpool

Free passes discriminate against those who can’t use buses

I have just been reading about the issuing of free national bus passes to people over 60 and disabled people. What happens to the thousands of us disabled people who can’t access buses and have to rely on our cars? Surely this is discrimination. They could issue us with vouchers for fuel to the same value as the passes. That may go some way to redressing the imbalance.
Denis Shaw, by email

Shakespeare was right on language

At last someone expressing a similar view to mine on terminology (Disability Now April, Up Close and Personal). Betzy Valnes puts forward a very tolerant attitude to this old chestnut. Have we become over-sensitive and so politically correct that people no longer know how to address those of us who are “disabled” in one way or another? I admit that I am happier to associate my son with the term Down’s syndrome, rather than mongoloid, but should I feel upset because I am often referred to as a diabetic rather than a person with diabetes? Of course not! We should be concentrating on the things that really change lives, like understanding, acceptance, tolerance and social inclusion. Unless people are being intentionally unkind in their choice of words, we should be relaxed about it. As Shakespeare said: “What’s in a name?”
June Bebbington, by email