Thursday 17 May 2012

Day One

Hello, this is my first go at Blogging.

In terms of disability we are in a very important phase. The government has decided in its wisdom to make all disabled people claiming Disability Living Allowance to be reassessed. At the end of the month the Social Care White Paper has been promised to be published which will give solutions on how care in the community will be delivered to the disabled and elderly. In theory, the net effect of these two events is big changes. The irony is, whilst I partly agree the need to reassess people for benefits I do have trouble getting my head around the idea that one day I will wake up one morning and not have CP and therefore not be entitled to DLA. You would have thought some thinking would have taken place so they reassess cases where disability has been a recent thing i.e. people with back injuries, but there you go.

My Blog will be factual but humorous (hopefully!) I do have a unique take on life as a disabled person, so please don't be offended if some of the humour is disabled based. Life with cerebral palsy is very interesting, humorous and frustrating if you want it to be. For instance a few weeks ago I was brushing my teeth, merrily minding my own business, standing in my bathroom in my underpants using my electric toothbrush. All of a sudden the head from the top of the toothbrush came off and wedged itself in-between my gum and cheek. The automatic reaction is to take the offending item from your mouth, fine if you've got perfect co-ordination. So in my mild panic I accidently swallowed feeling the toothbrush head disappearing down my throat. The immediate thought is not "Oh my God I'm going to die!" but "Oh my God I'm in my underpants so someone's going to discover me in a state of undress if I pass out". Thankfully I swallowed said toothbrush head without choking and when my PA came to do my breakfast and my shave I asked her what I should do. When I picked her up off the floor because she was laughing so much (once she realised I was actually ok) we phoned NHS Direct who advised to go immediately to A & E. I think this happened so I could entertain the hospital staff!

Why am I telling you this? I suppose it illustrates that disabled people have to go through embarrassing situations just to survive everyday life. Luckily I have a great relationship with my team of Personal Assistants who 'get me' and we all end up laughing together, but many disabled people don't have that fortune and live in residential care with staff who really are overworked and underpaid. The government needs to understand our situation and not keep punishing disabled people for being disabled.

No comments:

Post a Comment