P Fortune

When I went into respite in a nursing home many residents could walk short distances indoors but needed mobility scooters to get along corridors, to access the gardens, to visit other residents and facilities elsewhere on the site, and to enable some of them to access local shops and facilities.

Many people with back and neck problems cannot sit comfortably on garden chairs or hard benches and would have a high back, or use extra cushions, on their own scooters, adding to their comfort

• THE WITHDRAWAL OF THIS BENEFIT WILL CONFINE MANY PEOPLE INDOORS.

• MANY WILL SUFFER INCREASED PAIN OR HAVE TO 'SAVE' THEIR LIMITED ENERGY TO GET FROM ROOM TO DINING ROOM

• MANY WHO COULD TRANSPORT THEMSELVES ALONG CORRIDORS OR BETWEEN SITES WOULD NEED THE PROVISION OF WHEELCHAIRS AND CARERS TO WHEEL THEM

This would incur costs of assessments/appointments and provision of equipment.

This would incur costs of the carers/support workers time dealing with such appointments.

This would incur costs of personnel time fetching and transporting people who would have managed independently with their own mobility aids

This would also leave people feeling that they had been further disabled by the powers-that-be who formerly gave support. This is demoralising and distressing and people in residential facilities should still be enabled to remain as independent physically and socially as possible

for their physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.

• OFTEN LIMITED MOBILITY WILL HAVE TO BE USED FOR WHAT THEY 'NEED' TO GET TO AND THEY WILL LOSE THE MEANS OF BEING INDEPENDENTLY OUT AND ABOUT FOR PLEASURE

• MANY WILL LOSE THE BENEFIT OF FRESH AIR; THE ABILITY TO FIND SOME SPACE TO CONTEMPLATE, WATCH THE BIRDS, LOOK AT PLANTS, THE SKY AND THE THINGS THAT HELP US FEEL ALIVE. THIS WILL LEAVE MANY FEELING INCARCERATED (IMPRISONED?)

• MANY WILL LOSE THE ABILITY TO TRAVEL ABOUT MEETING UP WITH FRIENDS AND PASSING THE TIME OF DAY

I have seen what may be termed a 'scooterfest' – where people with various mobility aids or none can meet up on some equal ‘footing’ or equal ‘wheeling’ – removal of the Mobility Component also removes that equality, that sociability, that Ability and will leave people disempowered, disadvantaged and no doubt depressed at being confined

If people have mobility scooters they will get out of their easy chairs and GO OUT, enjoy that social interaction, and will get some physical movement from transferring on and off of their scooters.

This withdrawal of mobility component will force many into their armchairs, into their rooms, into isolation, into depression.

PLEASE decision-makers think how you would feel if this happened to YOUR relative?

Kevin Caulfield

Disabled people in care homes are often the most isolated and excluded of our citizens.

DLA provides a degree of choice and control to residents who are otherwise at the mercy of the priorities of individual care home providers. This is a retrograde policy decision that will have a massive impact on this section of the community.