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Leg amputated - have to go home and struggle in unsuitable housing

Ryanjane

Hi I’m new on here and need some help, I’ve recently had to have my leg amputated and won’t be able to get in my council flat but my council say I will have to go home and struggle until I get a suitable place via a bidding system

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Topkitten

I am in a similar position, that of needing wheelchair suitable accommodation. I have been housebound for 2 months but must wait another 2 before I can be assessed properly and then will also have to wait longer using the bidding system. I have spoken to the council housing people about ways to speed this up and all I got was a "jobsworth" telling me that I had to follow the system, no exceptions. When I asked about how I was supposed to view a property being housebound she refused to acknowledge I had even asked and repeated her standard reply "follow the rules, no exceptions". I don't think these people have any intelligence whatsoever and certainly have no understanding or experience of the difficulties they are forcing on the disabled.

Sorry I cant give better advice but it seems there isn't any way to improve the system.

TK

Chloe_Alumni

Hi @Ryanjane and a warm welcome to the community! I am sorry to hear that you are going back to housing that is not accessible. Do you have occupational therapists who could support you with the transition? I appreciate this will be an incredibly difficult time for you. OT's may be able to provide aids and recommend adaptions which would make life a lot easier for yourself. Hope you have a lovely day and get things sorted soon

newborn

A report said worldwide, a great percentage of mobility impaired people are imprisoned, excluded from participating in normal life, due to almost total lack of suitable housing stock.

Therefore, you would think, no planning authority would consent to a single new build which is not designed for disabled people to use in future, until there are enough life long fully accessible homes in housing stock everywhere.

After all, every human is either disabled or t.a.b. (temporarily able bodied)

The ones leaping round the squash court today will have a hideously painful broken ankle tomorrow, and will be pretty certain to end their days with years of sport related wear and tear joint damage . They will have visitors and family members who need disability access. Inclusive housing suits everyone, all their lives, and excludes nobody.

It is also only a tiny fraction more expensive to build access into design at the planning stage, but costs a fortune to retrofit, and is never satisfactory. E.g. a wet room, a height adjusted loo (and a wash dry loo as standard, as in Japan, is little extra, because of economy of bulk demand). Doorways wide enough for bariatric wheelchairs are wide enough for moving furniture in and out, for the rest of the building's lifetime.

Does anyone know a way to make planners and politicians listen and think?

Topkitten

@newborn, unfortunately almost every Council has a complete moratorium on building new council properties and none are planned either with or without modifications. This has been going on for a couple of decades in my area and was started by a Conservative government that wanted to sell off council stock to avoid having to maintain them. I cannot see any new government pushing for funds to be made available to restore the situation as it would be extremely costly. This is why private renting is pushed so hard, so they don't have to build and maintain anything new.

TK

newborn

Thank you t.k, I didn't explain correctly, sorry. It is nothing to do with housing built by this or that individual or organisation.

The laws of most countries cover applications to a planning authority. If the proposed building fails to comply, it cannot be built. Therefore, in most countries, designers, builders, architects or self builders must all draw up building proposals. The plans must include compliance with every aspect covered by their local (and any internationally agreed) safety standards and other building laws.

Therefore, disability inclusion merely needs a local and international tweak to building regulations. Simply adjusting wording on the relevant rulebooks is the only thing required. The result would be to steadily raise the world's housing stock standards, to make housing habitable, throughout their lifetimes, for everyone who might in future live in it.

N.B. Habinteg began the u.k. inclusive design standards, pioneering the policy that nobody should be segregated, isolated, or put in apartheid ghettos, merely because a family member needs accessible housing. Regrettably, the message has not reached those who can, if they bother, transform lives at the stroke of a pen. "Round them up and segregate them" is open policy for putting dogs in kennels, 'useless cripples' (such as the late Prof.Stephen Hawkins), and all grannies, into segregated 'care'.

Ryanjane

Thank you for the response, because this has only just happened and I’m still in hospital the Home Discharge team are dealing with the council on my behalf which is a huge relief for me. Where I live in Lancaster there are lots and lots of bungalows that have already been adapted for disabled people,

tanat

I’ve recently become an amputee and live with my mum, but my mums house is old and very unsuitable for me. I have recently came out of hospital I’ve seen physios and ot’s and I’m due to have an assessment but I’m struggling to cope I can’t go out or wash and my mum treats me like a baby when I’m in my 40’s !

Ross_Alumni

tanat said:

I’ve recently become an amputee and live with my mum, but my mums house is old and very unsuitable for me. I have recently came out of hospital I’ve seen physios and ot’s and I’m due to have an assessment but I’m struggling to cope I can’t go out or wash and my mum treats me like a baby when I’m in my 40’s !

Thank you for posting and welcome to the community

I appreciate you sharing your experience, and I'm sorry to read that your mum is babying you. Of course, often it is with good intentions but they can just be unaware of how it can make somebody feel. Have you tried telling her that you feel as though she treats you like a baby?

Do you know when you are due to have an assessment? Perhaps as a result of that you might be able to get some support put in place with daily tasks, or to find somewhere else to live where you will be happier.

janer1967

Hi @tanat and welcome to the community

I'm also an amputee coming up 5 years now

Does you mum own her hone or is it rented and how would you feel about living alone is this an option for you both

The ot assessment should at least give recommendations for adaptions or recommend alternative accommodation

I had to sell my home as it wasn't accessible and after waiting over a year post amputation being housebound was finally rehoused to a bungalow

Good luck hope you get a solution

tanat

My mum does own the house and she has talked about selling but the house isn’t worth what a bungalow is worth around here and she doesn’t want to live in a flat as it would be to small. I am 43 and would like to live alone and have as much independence as possible I just hope the council come up with something suitable for me soon

janer1967

It maybe a long wait buf fingers crossed for you

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