Rising costs hit disabled people
Burnham: Campaigners say many live on £10 a week
A Burnham Care and Share user has described his struggle to make ends meet after a national charity highlighted the cost of living crisis facing disabled people.
Leonard Cheshire, a national charity for disabled people, has produced a report showing that disabled people are living on as little as £10 a week, choosing cold food over cooked meals, wearing the same clothes to avoid using utilities and opting out of social activities.
Disability rights campaigner Steven Gillingwater, 32, said that that the report ‘doesn’t surprise him’ and added the situation is worse than ever before.
Steven said he doesn’t ‘know if I’d be here’ if it were not for the support for services like Burnham Care and Share, which provides food for people in the area who are struggling to manage.
Speaking about the report, Steven said: “Leonard Cheshire are absolutely right in what they’ve done because we need a voice, disabled people need a voice. People in small groups are always forgotten about.
“I’m £500 in arrears on my electricity bill and it’s not because I haven’t been able to sort things out or pay my bills – it’s because I use more than the average person.
“Ask any disabled person and they will tell you that they have the heating on in summer to ease pain or to help their condition. That’s why our bills are so out of control.”
He added: “I have to use electricity – and lots of it – but when I can’t it means no getting out and about (I have an electric scooter) and no TV. These are choices able bodied people don’t have to make.”
Steven said energy companies have been supportive, offering payment schemes and advice, while the service offered by Burnham Care and Share has also been vital.
“If it wasn’t for the Burnham Care and Share and their foodbank, I don’t know if I’d be here,” he said.
“Because of my disability I have specific dietary needs. I have to have certain foods and can’t go and shop in the freezer section of the supermarket. That’s what councilled advice tells us to do: ‘go to Iceland and stock up’. But Burnham Care and Share can help me with what I need.”
They are also there for Steven’s dog.
“They provide essential food for him. He’s not just a pet, he’s a companion who has saved my life several times by waking me up with I wasn’t breathing,” he said.
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesman said: “We know that living with a long-term illness or disability can impact on living costs and financial support is available to those with disabilities, or those who care for them.
“We urge people to check whether they are receiving all of the benefits to which they are entitled, and to be aware of the wider support this opens up, including help with transport, broadband or prescription costs.
“In addition, the Government is taking decisive action to help more than 27million households with rising energy costs, with a £200 reduction on bills this autumn, a £150 non-repayable reduction in Council Tax bills and our £1 billion Household Support Fund is helping the most vulnerable with essential costs.”