Invaluable group for Disabled and Carers set up by East Croydon couple

Disabled Parents and Carers Together group hailed invaluable by East Croydon couple

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Croydon Advertiser

A DISABLED couple who dedicate their lives to looking after each other have hailed the start of a new “life-saving” support group.

Mandy Maddock and her husband Alun are both blind and depend on each other to get through everyday life by being each other’s carers.

  1. Alun and Mandy Maddock, who live in East Croydon, are both blind and care for each other. They said the Disabled Parents and Carers Together group would be ‘invaluable’

The couple, from East Croydon, say there is not enough support for disabled carers but have welcomed the idea of a new group which has been set up to specifically help them and others in similar situations.

The Disabled Parents and Carers Together (DPACT) group has been set up to offer help, guidance and a listening ear to those who look after other people while having a disability themselves.

Mandy, 57, said: “To be honest, this is an area which has gone largely unsupported for a long time.

“People that are disabled but have to care for another person have not been offered the right amount of support in the past.

“Both me and my husband are blind and I am in a wheelchair, but we care for each other.

“There is a grey area, we help each other and one of us picks up where the other has left off, but neither of us are a ‘main carer’ and that can confuse things where funding etc comes in.”

The group recently launched its pilot scheme in New Addington, in the hope that it will soon be able to branch out to other neighbourhoods.

Mandy continued: “The idea is that you get to meet others who are going through the same thing. I have heard of situations where parents who are disabled are afraid to ask for help if they are struggling, because they fear their children will be taken away from them.

“That is the kind of thing this group is invaluable for.”

Carol Dorrington is the secretary of the group and added: “I am disabled and I care for my husband. Groups like ours are so important because there is nothing else like us around.

“We even offer a creche for those who need it.”

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