Category Archives: Carers

Web guru warns of digital divide

May 16, 2013   Carers, internet

Web guru warns of digital divide

15/05/13

By Simon O’Hare

Internet entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox has issued a stark warning about the dangers of a ‘two-tier society’ based on web access in her first speech at the House of Lords.

There are 16 million people who lack basic digital skills and seven million who have never been online, said Baroness Lane-Fox of Soho, who became a peer in March.

“I see usage of and access to the internet as a basic right that all citizens should be able to enjoy,” she said.

The lastminute.com founder and UK Digital Champion said there needs to be a focus on developing skills and internet infrastructure to ensure sections of society are not left behind.

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Carers don’t get the support they need

May 16, 2013   Carers, Norfolk

Pressure of caring caused former Norfolk ladies golf champion to lash out at mother

Thursday, May 16, 2013
4:53 PM

Charities have urged Norfolk’s army of unpaid carers to seek support if struggling to cope – after a court heard how a woman who had cared for her elderly mother for six years lashed out when the pressure became too much.

Julia Wilkerson, a former team captain of the Norfolk Ladies County Golf Association and five-time winner of the Norfolk county championships, snapped while caring for her 71-year-old mother and hit her over the head with a broom.

King’s Lynn Magistrates’ Court heard that while Wilkerson and her mother, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, “clearly love each other” six years of care had caused the relationship to break down.

Furthermore, the 40-year-old, of Saddlebow Road, King’s Lynn, had fallen into a “cycle of resentment and guilt” at the feeling her life was no longer her own, the court heard.

Magistrates handed out a 12-month conditional discharge after being handed a series of letters which showed her to be a ‘very caring person’.

Today, charities for carers told how such feelings of ‘anger and resentment’ were common, but reiterated that support was out there for anyone feeling in such a way.

Maria Plumb, spokesman for Norfolk Carers Helpline, said: “There are thousands of carers nationwide and 80,000 in Norfolk and services do exist to support these carers.

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Many were in tears!

May 16, 2013   Carers, disability

Remploy factory closures: Thousands face life without work

By Mark Ansell Face the Facts, BBC Radio 4

 The factories were established 67 years ago as part of the creation of the welfare state

Thousands of disabled people could face permanent joblessness as the final “sheltered” employment factories close.

“I just want to work. I’d do anything, I’d sweep the floors, I’d wash toilets out. I would do any job just to do my bit for the community.”

Simon Huntington worked for 17 years at the Remploy factory in Spennymoor near Darlington. Since the packaging and assembly plant shut in August last year, Simon has found it impossible to secure a new job.

“I’m scared I won’t get another job. I’ve applied for loads of jobs. Interviews come, interviews go and I never get anywhere further. It doesn’t matter what I do, no-one wants to employ me as they can see Remploy on my CV,” he says.

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