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Public Petitions Committee 31 March 2015

31 Mar 2015 · S4 · Public Petitions Committee

Item of business

New Petitions

Disabled-friendly Housing (PE1554)

Stephan Thomson Watch on SPTV

I live in a house that is supposed to be wheelchair adapted, but it is actually just a wheelchair-friendly house. As for the point that Jacq Kelly made about doors and things being wide enough, with my chair I cannot move freely on my own in my home. I cannot turn 360° in my hallway or wear my footplates in my hallway to get in and out of the front door, which causes problems. I had to get my front door adapted to an electric door simply because it had a lip on it. Basically, I had to take a run at it to get into the house because there was a drop. Before I had my door put in, I actually fell out of my power chair and landed on the concrete. It took a long time, speaking with the council, to get a new door put in. It helped when that was done, but that is only one point. Jacq Kelly also talked about the cost of patients being in hospital and things like that. I could tell you about a few occasions when I have fallen in my home because I have not had the right grab rails or things like that to be able to balance and transfer from A to B—say, out of my chair to my couch. I cannot walk, obviously. At one point, I fell on the floor and I ended up spending 13 hours waiting for one of my family members to come and find me. I had no access to my mobile phone, or a phone of any kind, so I had to lie there and wait for someone to come and get me. Eventually, I had to have a call button put in, but I ask you to think about the time that it takes for someone to respond. You have to wait for them to come and help you and, even if they come, they have to wait for an ambulance or people who are trained to lift you, which also costs money. If you end up in hospital, it can have a knock-on effect: not only does it cost more money for rehabilitation and the hospital stay, depending on what injuries you get, but you feel helpless because you have to depend on other people, which takes away your independence. You feel trapped because you are not able to get up on your own whereas, if you had a house that was designed for your wheelchair in the first place, you could cut down on the costs. My house is nice but it is not a wheelchair house. The authorities said that it was wheelchair friendly. It does not have the right equipment in it. I have only once been assessed by an occupational therapist. That takes me on to my third point, which is about my bathroom. Let us imagine that there was a doorway behind you and you needed to go to the bathroom but could not shut the bathroom door because there was not enough room in the bathroom for you and your wheelchair. You could not shut the bathroom door when your friends were in. We would all sit here and you would have to go to the bathroom but not close the door. That is against human rights. The house is just too small. The doorways are not designed for a wheelchair. No OTs have come to examine the bathroom with a view to adapting it because there is not enough space. It is not a wet room. A couple of grab rails were put in and that was it. I have never seen an OT since then. It is a big point that I cannot go to the bathroom in privacy in my own home, which should be designed for a wheelchair user. I have a friend whose house is adapted for her chair and it is possible to go into her bathroom and close the door, whereas my house is not adapted. It is to do with finances and money. The authorities do not have the money to adapt the house or make the changes that they need to, which cuts my quality of life. I have had to ask my friends to leave simply so that I can go to the bathroom, which I should not have to do.

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Public Petitions Committee 31 March 2015

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