Housing delay ‘callous’
Mum forced to carry wheelchair-bound child
A BRIDGEWATER mum with arthritis has described how she has been forced to carry her wheelchair-bound daughter up and down the front steps of their home every day while they wait to be provided a wheelchair-accessible public housing home.
Kristi Deakin said she and daughter Alexis, 6, have been waiting for a wheelchairfriendly home since the child was two.
“She has spinal muscular atrophy, it’s a muscle-wasting disease therefore she is wheelchair-bound,” Ms Deakin said. “We can’t get the wheelchair inside, it’s 130kg, so trying to bring it up the stairs is not going to happen.
“They’ve told me we’re priority but we’ve been on the list three, maybe four years.”
She said the department was aware of her daughter’s condition.
“I took in a report from the physiotherapist stating the house isn’t appropriate and stating what we will need is a disability shower and full wheelchair accessibility house,” Ms Deakin said. “I had at least five supporting letters from different medical professionals.”
The mother of two said she feared she would be unable to continue carrying her daughter as she became older.
“I took in doctors’ reports for myself, I have been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis,” Ms Deakin said. “She’s getting heavier and I’m getting weaker, it’s not ideal.
“I told them carrying her up and down the stairs isn’t safe for mine or her health.”
She said they had been offered one house, but it was not suitable.
“I had to reject because it was across the road from my ex in-laws. Housing said it was a reasonable reason to reject it but I haven’t heard anything since,” she said.
Ms Deakin said she had broadened the list of areas she was willing to move to.
Lyons MP Brian Mitchell said he had been advocating for the family but there had been no progress.
“I have written to the Housing Minister directly on Ms Deakin’s behalf and am yet to receive a substantive reply,” Mr Mitchell said. “It takes a rare kind of callousness to disregard a mother in distress, especially one who her best under circumstances.”
A government spokeswoman said it was increasing the supply of disability-specific housing.
“We appreciate the challenging circumstances of this case and have assessed the application accordingly as a priority one,” they said.
“While we continue to build more homes for people with disability, there is a limited supply of large, specialist disability properties.” is doing difficult