Over the last month, Salford City Council has caved in twice when faced with legal challenges over its cuts to transport for disabled adults, for which it also had to pay legal costs (see previous Salford Star article click here).
With more families waiting in the wings to mount legal challenges, Salford Against the Cuts has launched a new print and online petition urging the Council to restore transport for all families struggling to get their sons and daughters to day centres.
On the 38 Degrees petition page see here - there is a message from carer Noreen Bailey who had her own transport withdrawn... "There are many adults that are unable to get to their day centres, even though we were told that families were happy with their own arrangements; to a lot of us this is so untrue.
"We have lost a lot of free time to do jobs and for a bit of time to relax which our transport made possible" she adds "...Surely common sense tells us all it would be much less cost to provide a coach and escort that would accommodate most."
To prove her point, Noreen has produced a day-in-the-life-of diary, which shows that she has to take her two boys to day centres with her ill husband, John, after maybe three hours sleep if she's lucky. Noreen is 68 and John is 69. Here is her diary...
NOREEN'S CARE DIARY
I have three boys at home, two are dependent for all their needs and our middle boy is autistic. Our eldest is now 44 and came to us aged 14. Our middle son is 25 and joined our household when he was two years old. And our third son is now 24 and came to us at the age of 18 months. The boys are our foster sons but now we are classed as `adult care workers'.
We also have a grown family who are all married with families of their own. For our foster sons we are a doctor, nurse, taxi, therapist, a physio and a pharmacist. We are their eyes, ears, cook and cleaner. Writing this diary has opened my eyes. I never realised the time we put in because we just get on with it...
Friday early morning 12:30am...
I have just finished ironing and put the clothes away, before washing up and getting things ready for the boys' breakfast. The lads have been in bed since about 10:30pm. I can hear our eldest son shouting and laughing; this is a nightly thing so I go in and make sure he is ok, and check on our youngest and middle son who are both asleep. I put some music on low to see if it will settle our son down and after about an hour it does.
It's now 1:40am and our youngest son is shouting and banging his head. I go in and he needs changing, so I clean him up, put him back in bed with some music on and eventually he also goes back to sleep .
It's now 2:05am, so I make myself a drink and get in my bed which is the settee. It has been the settee for fifteen years as the boys have to have their own bedrooms and need someone downstairs with them. I turn the lights off and our eldest son starts shouting again. I wait about fifteen minutes and then get back up to see if he is ok but he needs changing. I have to wake John up because I cannot change him on my own. Once we have sorted him out and got him back in bed I do make another cup of tea and put the tv back on. By this time, 3:15 am, I can't get to sleep so I catch up with emails to my partner in crime Norma who runs the S.E.A.R.C.H. Salford Community committee with me.
Doze off and at 5:30am I'm woken up with the boy laughing, knowing it's time to get up. I hoist him into the shower room, then get him dressed and hoist him into his wheelchair, clear up and take him into living room. Now it's time for his meds. Once they are given I do his breakfast and put his splints and boots on. It's now 7:30am and time to wake John up.
I do his breakfast and make sure our youngest son has got everything in his bag for the day centre. John is up and taking his own meds as he is a diabetic and has COPD. We start getting our eldest son ready. Once he is done and in his wheelchair we take him in the living room and John gives him his meds and breakfast. It's now 8:40am and I shout our middle boy up who is autistic and hates mornings. He showers and gets dressed. It's now 9:30am and time to get the boys to the day centre.
This is where the fun starts. First we have to get our middle son in but he tries every excuse in the book to stay at home but eventually gets in. We get our youngest in first. We have more bending which makes my back ache and it really takes its toll on John who is 69 and has fought cancer. I am 68 and we don't get any younger. We did have transport but it was stopped by Salford Council nearly 18 months ago. Now we have to endure four trips a day going to the day centre and picking the boys up.
It's almost 10:15am. Most mornings we go home, and I catch up with my cleaning, arranging meetings for S.E.A.R.C.H and making phone calls to other parents to see if they are ok. My friend, Sue, and I run a club, Lets All Join Hands, once a fortnight for people with disabilities which has now been going for almost four years. We do not get funding for it, it funds itself through what we take on the night and having raffles. About an hour later it's time to prepare some lunch and also dinner for when the lads come home.
It's now 3:15pm and time to go back to pick the boys up. We get the boys back in the van and home. It's now 4pm and nearly time for tea, so we change each of the boys and then it's time to feed them. This can take anything up to an hour.
It's now 6pm and shower time which takes until 7:30pm, then I get a rest while the boys watch tv until 9pm, when it's time to put them to bed.
The only sadness is that we as carers do not get the help we should. Our Council just does not care. I think of all those carers that don't have a family or any friends like I have to help them. It is now 11:30pm and I am shattered but I can hear my eldest son again laughing and shouting, so I know that all is well.
One day we all will need care in one shape or form, and the way things are going with this Tory Government and our Labour Council, how will this be provided? It won't be. Carers really do keep this country running because they are the ones who suffer in silence. They don't ask for more money because they get so fed up of being told `If you can't cope, don't do it', knowing full well we love our sons, daughters, mums and dads. We are taken advantage of in a big way.
It is a true saying... `Carers are the unsung heroes of our health care system; it's about time we were heard...'
Read and sign the petition https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/salford-against-cuts-are-asking-the-council-to-restore-transport-for-adults-with-disabilities
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