CASE STUDY: FIVE YEARS IN A BUDGET HOTEL BECAUSE HUSBAND USES A WHEELCHAIR

Angela Brighton spent her 26th wedding anniversary packing up her family’s belongings before returning to the budget hotel where she, her wheelchair-using husband, Mark, and their three sons have lived for the last four and a half years. The family’s housing association landlord has been granted permission to repossess their home, and the Brightons, unable to pay the resulting court costs and outstanding rent totalling £67,000, now face bankruptcy.

The repossession order, approved last week in Manchester crown court, marks the complete breakdown of an increasingly acrimonious relationship between the family and the Guinness Northern Counties Housing Association – a relationship which started with the best of intentions.

A hereditary condition causing the gradual crumbling of Mark’s spine and hips has left him using wheelchair since 1997, and Angela is his full time carer. The family was offered a new property in Ashton-under-Lyne, near Manchester, designed and built to meet Paul’s specific needs by the housing association on land given by Tameside metropolitan borough council. After some delays, including having to apply for a grant to install a lift to the main bedroom, the Brightons signed a tenancy agreement in April 1999 and moved in five months later.

Clink on the link below to read more:-

Source: Guardian
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/feb/11/disabled-housing-wheelchair-user?CMP=EMCSOCEML657
13th February 2012

Hi there a few of us are getting together to go along to Sing-a-long Wizard of Oz with compare Mrs. Barbara Nice on Friday 11 November, 8pm at Lighthouse. The tickets are £8 and selling fast. A cult classic, it promises a fun night – some people are really getting into it and are dressing up, but for those of you that don’t want to that’s fine too – some of us aren’t!

I am happy to buy bulk tickets if you fancy meeting up and joining us to go along? If you’d like to, I will need the money by Wednesday 2nd November latest. If you’d like further information please follow the link below.

http://light-house.co.uk/calendar/2011/09/sing-along-wizard-of-oz/

Looking forward to a great weekend of events in association with SHOUT festival – don’t miss it! Please contact, Martha Bishop. General Manager. LGBT Network Wolverhampton. 16 Temple Street, Wolverhampton. WV2 4AN.                        Tele:  01902 425 092          Email: www.lgbtwolverhampton.org.uk

My name is Mona Vyas and I work for Sign Loop Interpreting Services. Part of my role within this organisation is to support newly qualified British Sign Language interpreters within our Support Network scheme. Basically this is to allow these interpreters to meet a variety of Deaf people on a weekly basis, encouraging them to improve their already acquired skills and confidence.

Our services have recently set up a new Deaf Access Centre at Wolverhampton Science Park that aims to provide improved access for Deaf people.  Our interpreters within the above mentioned scheme are available to make telephone calls and translate important letters, for e.g., bills, benefits information or hospital appointment bookings. A Deaf person may be challenged when faced with any of these because their first language is often British Sign Language and not English. Communication barriers can be extremely frustrating for Deaf people and so our interpreters aim to break down these barriers and ensure a much smoother experience for our clients.

I would be delighted if you could display the attached poster in your organisation to raise awareness of the centre and encourage Deaf people to attend here in Wolverhampton, West Midlands. At Wolverhampton Science Park. Wolverhampton. WV10 9RU on Monday from 10.30am t0 2.30pm. Please call  0121 601 0033 or text 07557336319.
Email:    info@signloop.co.uk

We are getting nearer the excitement that will be the disabled people’s carnival in wolverhampton.

You can see photos from the workshops where disabled people are working on their headresses, banners, and learning drumming here>>

You can also look at the facebook page here>>

You DO NOT have to be a member of facebook to go have a look

One Voice was involved along with many disabled people, in putting forward suggestions to make the new bus station less of a barrier for disabled people.

The project was called The Interchange Project – because it was supposed to enable passengers to easily change from bus to train to metro (if the Metro ever gets the funding to extend).

On the day the bus station opened, many passengers found that their bused no longer stopped at the bus station – there was no interchange at all – just a chaos of buses outside the Art Gallery. So now, many people have to go much further to get to the train station than before. Perhaps the project should have been called the ignoring-the-passengers project.

Not content with making this change, the bus company decided to changes the numbers and routes of most buses. There was a leaflet about these changes that came out 2 weeks before – so people had some notice. The leaflet though, was not called “changes to bus service” it was called “a fresh start”, so most bus users didn’t pick it up. The changes in number and service have been condusing to every passenger we have met on buses.

Now we have the passenger-unfriendly situation of more buses stopping or waiting in Lichfield street than there is room for. So some stop away from the bus stop, or change which end of the bus shelter they stop at, because of lack of space – this makes it much more difficult for blind and visually impaired and mobility impaired people to use the bus – it is also very stressful for all bus users. Sometimes, a bus will stop in the right place, and the driver will get out and passengers have to wait for a new driver.

This isn’t a fresh start, it is a fresh hell, and it seems to have been done without any consultation with passengers. It has made huge new barriers to using the bus service for many disabled people and others.

It is not the way to make sustainable change.

From London Disabled People’s Advisory committee

The Supreme Court has ruled in support of Kensington and Chelsea council’s withdrawal of overnight care to Elaine McDonald to save money. This will mean she will have no choice but to wear pads, although this is undignified and against her express wishes. Male judges are undermining a woman’s right to choose how she is helped with personal care.

The ruling has accepted that reviewing care plans can be treated as a reassessment of need. Therefore any contact with social services, even a phone call, could lead to detrimental changes to a disabled person’s care package.

The idea that privacy and independence can best be facilitated by dispensing with personal assistants or care workers at night was also supported by the Supreme Court. This is contrary to the government’s Independent Living Strategy, and undermines everything we have fought for as a disabled people’s movement for the last forty years. Personal assistance is vital to many disabled people’s independence and safety. Disabled people with complex health and social care needs who cannot move unaided should never be left alone at night in case of a fire or a sudden deterioration in their condition.

Disabled people, family carers, personal assistants, women, pensioners, community activists and trade unionists should come to the lobby to support Elaine and oppose this disgraceful ruling. Elaine’s overnight care should be restored immediately. A defeat for Elaine is a defeat for us all.

Contact ADKC on 0208 960 8888 or at pbsupport@adkc.org.uk

Contact HAFCAC on 07899 752 877 or at hafcac@hotmail.co.uk

Contact DPAC at mail@dpac.uk.net or visit our web site at www.dpac.uk.net

Contact WinVisible on 0207 482 2496 (voice & minicom) or at win@winvisible.org

We have all had difficulty with the buses or trains or shops or buildings at some point, because a service or venue isn’t set up in an accessible way.

But now you can be part of some research to show how bad the problem is – or how much its improved!

Continue Reading

Disabled young people aged 4-18 are welcome to bring friends and family and come along and join in the fun on
Thursday 24th February
10am-4pm

There are free drop in workshops for you to have a go, including:
Continue Reading

One Voice member Ann Mathews has a petition of interest to disabled people on the Government petitions website here:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/FreeDisabledSwim/

The petition reads:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to extend the
free swim programme to include disabled people.

Disabled people have various kinds of problems that can limit
their mobility, however swimming or simply being in the water
can be enjoyed by everyone. It is a great fitness tool and can
change people’s mood. However it is very expensive which can
stop disabled people from being able to join in, so by
extending the free swim program we can make life a little
easier for disabled people and their carers.

If you agree, go to the link above and sign the petition!

Co-op travel have broken ahead of the field of travel companys by being the first high street travel firm to provide a custom service for disabled people.

Co-op Travel have trained staff from 40 branches on the access needs of disabled people who want to go on holiday, so that they can give accurate and relevant access information. Their travelshops will have specialist guides on airport access and facilities also. The aim is to roll out this expertise to all their branches.

You can find out whether a branch near you has this new service by contacting Co-op Travel:

0845 266 9228 or visit online: www.co-operativetravel.co.uk/specialist-travel.