Stairlifts and the Disability act

mystic_trev

Bit of a long shot this, but hope that one of m'learned friends can help me!

My mother moved into private sheltered flat a few years ago - two flats up two down, hers is up. She is now suffering mobilty problems and has asked for a stairlift, which she'll pay for. Her (one) other neighbour, upstairs has refused, without reason! Someone told me that we may be able to over-ride her objection using the Disability act? I've tried 'googling' it but i'm no wiser!

Any thoughts?

Savvy_Sue

I think what that 'someone' is thinking of is the Disability Discrimination Act, under which 'reasonable adjustments' should be made in public buildings, shops etc. Whether your mother's private sheltered flat falls under that, I'm not sure.

And mother's neighbour probably does have a reason, even if she hasn't given one or it doesn't appear very rational ...

Are the stairs private? ie is there an intercom for the door so no-one can just get in? I'd be very concerned about fitting one to a 'public' staircase, for all sorts of reasons.

I wonder if Help the Aged or Age Concern would be able to advise, or if you have a local disability action group get in touch with them.

mystic_trev

Thanks for your comments Sue, kind of runs along the same thoughts I had. The stairs are private. I'll contact Age Concern.

Savvy_Sue

Actually one reason I did think of is that your neighbour may like to have access to a handrail both sides of the stairs to haul herself up or steady herself down. And if she has a 'good' side and a 'not so good' side of her body, but doesn't want everyone to know her business, she may not like to tell you that she needs free access to the handrail on both sides, one side for going up and the other for going down.

You might think she'd welcome a stair lift if that's the case, but she may feel that if she doesn't use those stairs regularly, she'll lose the ability to do so.

My parents are looking into a stair lift, but mum's keen to see if they can get one where she doesn't 'lose' the end of the handrail at the top. If she did, it just wouldn't be possible for her to get up under her own steam. And she wants to keep doing that, even though my dad would probably ride up and down quite happily all day long if dad would let him.

I can also think that there might be other issues of one tenant installing a stairlift on a shared staircase which the landlord would have to think through: responsibility for maintenance, danger of abuse, what happens if your mum moves out and has the stairlift removed etc etc etc.

Better option would be the landlord agreeing to install and maintain one, or at least to agree to ongoing maintenance. Not a straightforward thing.

neiljc_2

Trev

in essence the question here is one of the landlord agreeing to the work being carried out.The other tenant can object but this decison is not theirs to make it is the landlords.

there are few reasons that allow the rights under the DDA to be disregarded, including if reasonable adjustments would pose a health and safety risk to other users.

The landlord has limited rights to refuse reasonable adjustments and probably the best thing to do is speak to your local disability rights organisation for more information

mummytofour

The thing is if you found a way round getting the lift installed and somebody objected, I would be worried about the safety of the lift. This may well be unlikely but worth considering. Has anybody spoken to the neighbour that objected?

chesky369

Slightly off-topic, but I'm just staggered that sheltered housing can be offered without having a lift to the upper floor - and not just a stair lift either.

[Deleted User]

I am not disabled but I do like the safety of a handrail on each side and a stairlift would get in the way

mystic_trev

chesky369 wrote: »

Slightly off-topic, but I'm just staggered that sheltered housing can be offered without having a lift to the upper floor - and not just a stair lift either.

Yes -Sorry, I should have stated the property is over 25 years old and they obviously didn't think of the problems when it was built.

Thank you all so much for your comments. I've got things a bit clearer in my head now - about how to proceed.

john45

No matter what type of property your mother lives in she is entitled to contact her local authority social services or environmental health department and ask for an assessment to be made on her needs. They are obliged to undertake a survey of the property and to establish her degree of disablity to see if she requires any adaptation for her to have access to her flat and mobility within it.
If the occupational therapist assesses there is a need for a lift they are obliged to offer her assisitance under the Disabled Facilities and Adaptation Act and they will liase with the Housing Association who owns the property. They will have to agree to the assessment and if a lift is required they would either provide one or let your mother apply for a disabled facilities grant from the local authority ( NOTE this is means tested), or they may decided to offer alternative accommodation to address your mothers needs.
Normally Housing Associations do not like to put lifts in as they have to pay to have them maintained and removed when your mother leaves the property

Errata

I guess the worst case scenario could arise if the stairlift breaks down halfway up on a Friday afternoon and there's nobody to call out to fix it until Monday which could result in the upstairs neighbour not being able to get up the stairs to their flat and the OP's mum being trapped in her flat.