Tag Archives: disability
Report from the Hardest Hit North-East Conference
Cuts are costing us our independence, disabled people in Newcastle tell Government
Over 200 disabled people, carers and disability campaigners gathered at Newcastle Civic Centre on Friday 1 June to discuss the impact of government cuts on disabled and older people. The conference comes after a march and rally last October which was the largest of a series across the country with over a 1000 people taking part.
‘PROVE you’re disabled’: What council told wheelchair-bound spina bifida sufferer
- Nicola Parnell said staff told her to go home and come back with evidence she really had spina bifida
A woman in a wheelchair who asked for a key to the disabled toilets was horrified when council staff told her to provide proof that she really had spina bifida.
Nicola Parnell, 32, visited East Staffordshire Borough Council’s customer services office to buy access to the facilities at her local shopping centre in Burton-on-Trent.
But she said jobsworth staff demanded she produce evidence of her chronic illness – despite the fact she was in a wheelchair and her body is the size of a 10-year-old’s.
Shocked: Nicola Parnell was left distraught when council staff told her to go home and get evidence she really had spina bifida
‘I asked the receptionist if I could buy a key and she said she couldn’t give me one unless I could prove that I was disabled,’ said a shocked Ms Parnell.
‘She said I’d need to go home and come back with some identification; either my blue badge or a letter showing my disability living allowance.
‘What more proof did she need than me being in front of her in a wheelchair? I clearly look disabled.
‘My body is about the same size as a 10-year-old’s – surely that is enough proof.’
Ms Parnell claims she asked a receptionist to look for her details on the council’s computer system as she had been to the office a month earlier to update her blue badge.
The autism diagnosis that took half a century
It took 50 years for doctors to diagnose son with autism
GREAT-GRANDMOTHER Sheila Baker said it took 50 years for doctors to diagnose her son with autism.
Sheila, aged 75, of Whitleigh, cares for her son Paul and daughter Catherine around the clock. Both are in their 50s and have learning disabilities.
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FAMILY: Sheila and Bryan Baker with children Paul (r) and Catherine. Below left: Paul aged about seven or eight. Below right: Paul getting his gold medal in the Isle of Wight Special Olympics in 1987 (men’s 400 metres)
An earlier diagnosis may have helped other people understand and manage Paul’s condition, said Sheila.
The mum of six told her family’s story to raise awareness of a new Plymouth support group launched to help carers of people with autism (see panel).
Understanding of the lifelong disability, which affects how people communicate and interact, has changed dramatically in the past century.
Paul was diagnosed as ‘mentally handicapped’, a term no longer used, when he was four years old.
