Tag Archives: ukcuts
Customers at a cafe run by people with learning difficulties express their sadness as it closes
It is due to close next Friday.
10:00am Monday 30th September 2013 in News By Graeme Hetherington
CUSTOMERS who regularly use a cafe staffed by people from an adult day centre have spoken of their disappointment as it is due to close next Friday.
Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council decided to close Upsall Hall in July claiming that dwindling user numbers meant the centre was no longer viable.
However, many members of the public who use the centre feel let down by the decision.
Sheila Harvey, who used the centre for more than 30 years, campaigned tirelessly to save it from closure but the appeal fell on deaf ears.
Disability tests opposed by dean of St Paul's Cathedral
A letter urging Prime Minister David Cameron to get rid of work assessments for the disabled has been signed by the dean of St Paul’s Cathedral.
The Very Rev Dr David Ison was among campaigners to claim the tests could “cut short” disabled people’s lives.
The letter also called on ministers to address the “shameful offences” of austerity measures.
The government said the assessments had been improved and could help disabled people get into employment.
‘Heaviest burden’
The letter, titled The Downing Street Demand, called for an end to work capability assessments (WCA) which “demean and distress” disabled people.
Take good care to look after the carers
Take good care to look after the carers
People who dedicate themselves to looking after their loved ones should ensure they make time for themselves too, says Morag Chisholm
It is no fun being a carer. It is not a role that allows the option “I’ve had enough of this, thank you. Can I do something different now?” There are no happy endings, the cared-for are not going to get better and release is not necessarily relief. Is there a nobility about caring or is it just bloody awful?
The focus here is on the unpaid, private army, which is increasing relentlessly. Two typical scenarios are caring for a partner and caring for a parent who is slipping into dementia. These roles can have profound effects on the caring individuals concerned and on their relationships.
It is not necessary to actually live with a person to assume the caring role. Although my mother, frail and old, lived 300 miles away with paid carers looking after her, I always had an ear half cocked for that telephone call, the summons, the crisis. And when I was with her, as holiday cover, I was always alert, cat-napping, hurrying back from shopping just in case. I learned something of what caring must be like as an all-day, every day, experience. I am not sure I could do it.
