{"id":20909,"date":"2013-12-13T12:42:05","date_gmt":"2013-12-13T12:42:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/?p=20909"},"modified":"2013-12-13T12:42:05","modified_gmt":"2013-12-13T12:42:05","slug":"in-depth-housebound-by-disability-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/2013\/12\/13\/in-depth-housebound-by-disability-cuts\/","title":{"rendered":"In depth: Housebound by disability cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Benefit reforms are driving disabled people in Wales further outside the margins of modern society, Rachel Carter reports.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Disabled

When Tony Hawkins became wheelchair dependent three years ago, he didn\u2019t know anyone else in a wheelchair, had no one to contact to ask questions and no family in the area. Tony and his partner Debra were moved into a two-bedroom bungalow in a rural village in Ceredigion, Mid Wales, where they knew no one. As well as the geographical isolation of his situation, Tony is now being hit by a \u201cdouble whammy\u201d of benefit and local service cuts, which could see him lose his independence altogether.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of us are housebound by virtue, not by our disability, because these villages and even some of the towns are so far behind a lot of the UK in terms of adaptations and catching up to the idea that people in wheelchairs need wider doors and level access,\u201d says Tony. \u201cWe are all very isolated here, there is no real support network and the services that we rely on are being cut as a result of government cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are only two shops in Tony\u2019s village that have wheelchair access \u2013 a caf\u00e9 and the bank \u2013 and transport links are a \u201chuge problem\u201d in the area, with the majority of buses not able to accommodate wheelchairs. Tony cannot leave the house unless Debra drives him using their motability vehicle, which is currently funded through his mobility payment. \u201cWe have a motability vehicle because we can\u2019t survive without one,\u201d says Tony.<\/p>\n

In October this year, the UK Government confirmed its decision to restrict the higher rate mobility payment<\/a> only to people who cannot walk more than 20 metres. The payment was previously awarded to people who could not walk more than 50 metres and the change will mean that thousands of disabled people will lose support, their motability car and their jobs. \u201cI don\u2019t know whether or not I will lose my vehicle, but it is possible,\u201d says Tony.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe overwhelming response of consultation was that it should have remained at 50m,\u201d adds Paul Swann, policy officer for Disability Wales<\/a>. \u201cThis change will have a huge impact on disabled people\u2019s ability to live independently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heating or eating this winter?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tony has also been personally affected by the bedroom tax, the policy which cuts the amount of benefit people can get if they are deemed to have a spare room in their council or housing association home. Unable to downsize due to a lack of one-bedroom properties in the area, he now has to find an additional 15% to pay the rent each month. \u201cWe have sold things, we have had to cut back on a lot of things, and then as we start coming into the winter we now have to look at do we put the heating on or do we have a meal,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

According to Cap in Hand<\/a>,<\/em> a report published by Disability Wales and the Bevan Foundation<\/a> in April this year, there is currently no breakdown of the number of disabled people in Wales affected by the bedroom tax but changes to the housing benefit are likely to have a significant impact on disabled people.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of all the shame, the stigma and the stress of being reassessed and in some cases, obviously the entrenched poverty of losing their benefits, disabled people are becoming isolated and they are becoming mentally unwell,\u201d says Eri Mountbatten, a freelance welfare rights trainer, who has seen \u201can increase in mental health problems\u201d among disabled people as a result of the reforms.<\/p>\n

Breaking down the barriers<\/strong><\/p>\n

In April 2012, the Welsh Government published the Framework for Action on Independent Living<\/a>, which aims to address the barriers to inclusion and equality faced by disabled people in Wales. However there are now concerns that the framework may also be at risk due to the current economic situation. \u201cIt seems to me that Westminster is intent on amplifying the disabling role of society with cutting disabled people\u2019s incomes being a critical part of that agenda,\u201d says Paul.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the rights that we have gained over 40 years of disability campaigning are being stripped away from us and ultimately we will have to look at being in care because we simply won\u2019t be able to live in society,\u201d adds Tony. \u201cThe reforms are alienating us and we are already seeing signs of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI never saw that I would be sitting in a wheelchair one day unable to technically do anything but that doesn\u2019t get taken into account now,\u201d he continues. \u201cNow I have to justify the fact that this has happened to me and that is a very difficult thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s not hard enough to be disabled now we have to justify it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":252,"featured_media":21125,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-20909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-no-logo"],"yoast_head":"\nIn depth: Housebound by disability cuts - alt.cardiff<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/2013\/12\/13\/in-depth-housebound-by-disability-cuts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In depth: Housebound by disability cuts - 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