Advice please!!

cathsion01

My mum has had Menieres disease for many years now , she eventually had to quit her job working with kids at a nursery as her attacks got worse and her hearing declined alot, she couldnt hear what people were saying anymore , she now does a few cleaning jobs for people to get by as she has little confidence and this job allows her to get on with her job alone without communicating with others, she gets no help what so ever from the government and my step dad is working 2 jobs to cover themselves and are getting more in debt , its ridiculous !! he works from 7 am until 5.30pm then over to his other job 6.30pm till 10.30pm, myself and my son never see him as he is so busy and when the weekend comes he does the food shop and then sleeps in the afternoon due to exhaustion or goes off fishing for some time alone to himself and then the week starts all over again. Surely there is more help out there for them and support for my mum. And its due to lack of knowledge on our part, unsure where to look or who to talk to, i feel now it is up to me to change her quality of life. She cant use a telephone any longer , she spends a fortune on a contract mobile to stay in touch with family using facebook. She dosnt go out for meals etc because she cant hear people over the background noise, she has 2 hearing aids and see's a doctor in cardiff every year and still there is no support offered to her finacially or otherwise. Any one out there that has this disease or any information to put me in the right direction ? On the positive side she has just won a computer due to her creative writing skills but due to no landline i am looking for a pay as you go broadband dongle for her , i have no clue how these things works and whats best out there for her to use that is not expensive?? Any help guys would be tremendous , many thanks!!

McKneff

You havent mentioned your mum and step dads age.

Do they own their own house or rent.

Google Menieres Disease support group.

krisskross

My husband has Menieres and is profoundly deaf.

We live in Worcestershire and he was provided with a suitable landline phone by Supporting People. Worth seeing if there is anything like this in your area.

kingfisherblue

It sounds as though your mum and dad should have a benefits check. Do you have a deafness resources centre where you live? Or a carers centre, welfare advice centre or disability advice centre?

Benefits checks are free - there have been some reports recently of firms charging for this, but you can get one free. If you are not sure, ask your local council.

I also agree with contacting the Meniere's support group mentioned by McKneff.

McKneff

Theres a link somewhere that is makesenseofcards, they could do a benefits check on there, if someone would be kind enough to post a link.

Found one

http://www.turn2us.org.uk/benefits_search.aspx

Just click on the link, fill it in and post it.

Savvy_Sue

It would be worth talking to the mobile contract provider if there's a while to run on it to see if there are 'packages' for home BB and phone and even TV which would bring the cost down. If there's not a lot left to run on the contract then looking round all providers would be worthwhile. Phones and Utilities section of the website would be a good starting point.

My mother can't use a phone, she relies on email and also uses the TextRelay service.