Bedroom Tax and kids living away??

ab.da54

mysterywoman10 wrote: »

Did she ask for advice though on how she should fill her time was my point?

Anyway FATE is a very strange thing, I've been to the supermarket and bumped into a very nice visually impaired gentlemen who was using a video magnifyer so he could do his own shopping and see the labels. It cost him £450 and he saved up for two years from his DLA. Chatting to other half and he said in some areas they do provide them free but no other aids but its very rare, another postcode lottery.

We also got into a conversation about how most jobs for disabled people were at the higher end of the job market. Particularly blind people, especially now admin jobs have more or less disappeared i.e. touch/audio typing etc. As he rightly pointed out you couldn't have blind bus driver or electrician could you?! Some people years ago he managed to get in jobs in engineering but again a falling jobs market area.

Then as I was coming back up my street a very nice neighbor who used to run our local Social Service respite care unit for children with severe disabiities, we had a chat as I don't see her very often. She is starting a new home for (private) for children with severe and challenging behavior as the LA's cannot cope with the numbers that our coming into care. I asked her what she thought effect the bedroom tax would have on this and I'm afraid she said "it will increase pressures on families that already are struggling to cope and I am totally opposed to it". They don't get the support they need as it is and asking them to find work on top it just isn't possible in many cases. We mean help with trying to cope here not just money. Another question do you think "economic times generally are having an effect on these families" and causing numbers to rise going into care? Yes abolutely it's a fight for everything.

List of things parents have to pay for :

If you look in any special needs toys catalogue I think it will give you an idea of the cost of toys!! Astronimical.

Deposits for mobility vehicles to meet the need of a family i.e. wheelchair assessible, many families do not get help with the deposit even if on HB especially if working. This can run into thousands.

Special beds again not always supplied

Special buggies again not always supplied although some authorities will give vouchers.

Cost of activities for trying to give their disabled children some quality of life

Cost to their own health in going for years without a good nights sleep, coping with the stresses of it all

Difficult to keep a job when the child is often very ill, in hospital or not able to go to school

The list is endless really, but hey lets make their lifes in private and SH more dificult take £14 off them and make them pay council tax.

For every one child that goes into care it will cost at least £100,000 per annum.

For all the difficulties you list, I could list my own.

As tough as it is raising disabled children, it is just as difficult for adults with disabilities. It's not a competition though, just different people facing their own adversities.

I may also have to pay the shortfall.

I'm not here putting up barriers and making excuses why I shouldn't pay.

ab.da54

nannytone wrote: »

and i have said MAMY times that there others in far worse positions!
but £99 a week is not a kings ransom, and long term when white goods furniture wears out and neds replacing ...its a severe strain.
many will be losing £20 a week with the rent and council tax changes.

and just because SOME are worse off, doesnt mean that the person on £99 isnt going to struggle to male emds meet

I didn't say the person wasn't going to struggle. I have said they should be proactive and start sorting out how they are going to make up the shortfall.

Move in with family.
Take on a lodger.
Downsize.
Reduce outgoings.

There are options that many could look at, and need to be looking at now.

Mojisola

I think the last couple of generations have been reasonably well-looked after financially and have got used to a level of independence that goes with that.

A disabled person in my grandparents' generation would never have expected to have their own place to live - they would have lived with another family member. When people were out of work for long periods, they would have moved in with a relative even if that was difficult for everyone.

My grandparents had a couple of lodgers for years even though it meant their own children were squashed up, sharing bedrooms. If there isn't the money there, you do what you need to in order to manage.

ab.da54

Mojisola wrote: »

I think the last couple of generations have been reasonably well-looked after financially and have got used to a level of independence that goes with that.

A disabled person in my grandparents' generation would never have expected to have their own place to live - they would have lived with another family member. When people were out of work for long periods, they would have moved in with a relative even if that was difficult for everyone.

My grandparents had a couple of lodgers for years even though it meant their own children were squashed up, sharing bedrooms. If there isn't the money there, you to do what you need to in order to manage.

As much as I value the benefit system we have, and as grateful as I am that I have been able to use that system when I could no longer work, I think it has done a great disservice to many, who seem no longer prepared to help themselves even a small amount.

nannytone_2

i dont need to change my life!!
i just need to be allowed to live it... and with increasing cuts. it will become more and more difficult!
i dont want to join discussion groups or knitting clubs..
i like to spend time with friends ... and god forbid ... having a good laugh and a gossip the same as everyone else!

the fact that i will have to use my DLA for things other than its intended use means that the money i now use to make sure i can get out and about will have to be cut!
.

the reason i am at home is not because i dont have friends or because i have a sad existance with no interests, but because of MONEY.

how inhumane to even suggest that a person who is blind should move to another town, where they know no one ... have no friends and no support...
dont even know where the post office or shops are .... just so they can afford their rent and somehow bag a non existant job....

dunroamin ... you realy dont have a clue how the other half HAVE to live

mysterywoman10

Not entirely true, the kind of disability I am talking about the majority would not have been in the community in your grandparents day, they would have been shut away out of sight and out of mind.

nannytone_2

ab.da54 wrote: »

For all the difficulties you list, I could list my own.

As tough as it is raising disabled children, it is just as difficult for adults with disabilities. It's not a competition though, just different people facing their own adversities.

I may also have to pay the shortfall.

I'm not here putting up barriers and making excuses why I shouldn't pay.

what youre doing is far worse. youre sitting back and just accepting the injustices that are happening.

you may see it as we are putting up barriers or making excuses.

but for many people, they arent excuses, they are realities.
and if we dont fight to help one another, and especially those worse off than ourselves..
we are complicit with the people making the cuts and in fact giving them the power to leep making them.... because they think that by your silence, they also have your backing!

Mojisola

nannytone wrote: »

i dont need to change my life!!
i just need to be allowed to live it... and with increasing cuts. it will become more and more difficult!

It will become more difficult for many people and it won't feel "fair". While protesting and trying to make things better is worth doing, so is adjusting your own life in case things stay bad or even get worse.

I have been too ill to work for many years and that is going to affect our retirement. We would normally have expected to stay in our family home during our retirement but we have not been able to save what we planned to because we have had to live off one income.

We could stay here because "it's our right" and feel hard done by or we can look to ways to change things so that we can live as happily as possible within our means.

mysterywoman10

I know that you don't find it patronising I didn't expect the "regulars" to agree with me but then that is because you are in this "bubble" of a message board and I am looking in sorry if that sounds patronising.

You doll out advice when it isn't asked for, which seems to extend to telling others how they should live their lifes It's a fine line I appreciate that and I'm sure much of it is well intentioned.

ab.da54

nannytone wrote: »

what youre doing is far worse. youre sitting back and just accepting the injustices that are happening.

you may see it as we are putting up barriers or making excuses.

but for many people, they arent excuses, they are realities.
and if we dont fight to help one another, and especially those worse off than ourselves..
we are complicit with the people making the cuts and in fact giving them the power to leep making them.... because they think that by your silence, they also have your backing!

You are wrong.

I have also been proactive in trying to make the powers that be listen to the concerns that the most vulnerable will suffer.

I have not been silent, however, the forum is for chat not change.

What I will say though, is that the most vulnerable have not necessarily been posting on here. Somr of those who have, those who are putting up barriers and making statements that others should suffer but not themselves, are really not helping the cause because people see through excuses.

I will continue to lend my support to try and ensure that the most vulnerable do not suffer but please, please do not continue to point out that all disabled people are living on the breadline and only just surviving because we both know that that will not be the case.