Evening Telegraph (First Edition)

‘Top-floor flat is unsuitable for my daughter’s wheelchair’

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“She has nightmares and I think she has PTSD from it as well which affects her mental health as she relives that day-to-day.”

Ashley said she was told she was in the top five on the housing list before lockdown but has not heard anything since.

She added: “I only want a bed, that is all I want – my own bed.

“I have to get changed in the bathroom and go in and out of the kids’ rooms to get my clothes and shoes.

“You can’t get a proper sleep in the living room either – our toilet is downstairs so if the kids need the toilet they are up and down at night and I can hear everything.”

MUM-OF-THREE Samantha Ward lives in a two-bedroom top-floor flat in Menzieshil­l – but needs to move to a specially adapted home for her disabled daughter.

The family of five and their pet dog are squeezed into just two bedrooms, and Samantha and her partner have been waiting for a year to get an adapted council house.

Samantha’s daughter is in a wheelchair and needs to sleep in a medical bed but currently there is no room for that in their flat.

Samantha said: “I’m in a two-bedroom top-floor flat living with my three daughters and my youngest two’s dad.

“One of my daughters has severe disabiliti­es and is in a wheelchair buggy.

“She has spina bifida hydrocepha­lus, which is fluid on the brain, and scoliosis neuropathi­c bladder and bowel.

“Day-to-day life involves regular physio exercises, medication and catheters four times a day.

“The main issue is my daughter is in a wheelchair which is very heavy to bump up and down the stairs.

“She’s also still in a cot because she shares a room with her older sister and there just isn’t any room for a medical bed.

“New accommodat­ion is the only way forward because a top-floor flat is unsuitable for a wheelchair and I’ve

A SPOKESMAN for Dundee City Council said: "Any tenant who has concerns should contact their local housing office to discuss these directly.

“We would urge these individual­s to contact our lettings centre to review their housing applicatio­ns." been waiting about a year for a fullyadapt­ed wheelchair house.”

Samantha added: “It disgusts me to know there are empty flats and houses out there while families like us are stuck in unsuitable housing and the council thinks that’s OK.”

 ??  ?? Main picture: Terri Lewis and one-year-old daughter Riva. Inset below: Ashley Donnet.
Samantha Ward and, right, her daughter.
Main picture: Terri Lewis and one-year-old daughter Riva. Inset below: Ashley Donnet. Samantha Ward and, right, her daughter.
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