Practical help for disabled people?

IHD

Can anyone point me in the direction of some practical help that doesnt come under social services. By help i mean diy, decorating, gardening and moving furniture etc. (All the jobs the man of the house would do i suppose!) Do i just have to employ tradesmen or is there anyone offers help, even at a reduced rate for disabled people ? Thankyou.

nannytone_2

lots of councils offer 'handyman' schemes for the elderly/disabled. they charge, but far less than the rate you would normally pay.
alternatively you could ask charities.
when i worked at DIAL we kept a file of all businesses/vjarities that offered help to disabled people in all sorts of ways.
there were gardeners and general habdymen. we also had a lady that altered clothes for wheelchaur user to make them easier and more suitable to get off/on. youd be amazed what you can find if you look in the right places

wolfehouse

sometimes people on community payback schemes do decorating etc for disadvantaged/disabled people. don't know how that works where you are but in scotland you would contact sacro and ask.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Community Payback has been around 40 years, previously known as Community Service and Community Punishment. Using offenders largely convicted of theft and other dishonesty issues to unwillingly complete unpaid work sentences such as painting miles of seafront railings, reinstating headstones in local graveyards etc to alleviate work that might not otherwise be completed as the local authority is one thing.

Domestic homes, even external to the domestic home gardening / painting etc I would never even reluctantly consider having this group near my home regardless of the reassurances of the Probation Service. The potential to 'case' the dwelling for friends to visit later is self evident. If re-offending rates of 30% are reduced by 5% with Community Payback, then that leaves a 25% possibility that I might later be burgled by the individual or friends of the individual.

The best way not to be shot at is - don't put yourself in the firing line !

zaksmum

I definitely wouldn't want such people in my house either. Things are bad enough without inviting people on community payback servce into your home. You'd need eyes in the back of your head while they were there and no doubt quite a few sleepless nights after they'd gone.

Parva

Disregarding the community service types the question still stands. I myself am in this situation being severely disabled and my family already go more than the extra mile so I can't expect them to get the strimmer out on top of all of the other household chores. Going to have to find myself a gardener that can do it at a reasonable rate I guess, it's not a huge garden by any means, if I had the legs I could strim it in 30 minutes! I just don't want to end up paying a fortune for a simple job.

P4ula

In my area, there are a couple of charities for people with learning disabilities who can come round and do such as gardening etc for very cheap rates for disabled and/or elderly people. The people with the learning disabilities are supervised at all times and they do a very good job. They bring all their own equipment such as mowers, strimmers etc.

If you have a local 'Dial' service they should be able to tell you if such schemes exist in your area.

Paula

Catherine_Johnson_2

Usually, friends or neighbours would help out with this sort of thing- small diy jobs, helping with the garden etc. Are you not friendly with people locally?

wolfehouse

as nanytone says check with your local council first
because each one is different.
ours used to offer a once a year garden clean up for qualifying people

nannytone_2

what about the local scout grousp or boys brigade group?
.
my eldest grandson goes to cubs and next week he is off to the local 'farm' to look after the animals for the day. he is only 9 so not wuite upto gardening... but i'm sure the older kids do vommunity work like odd jobs/gardening

zaksmum

In my road anyone elderly or disabled who has nobody to help with the garden or small DIY jobs will always get assistance from a neighbour.

It's far from being a good area but we do look after those who can't look after themselves.