Free advice so you can stay independent at home
JEWISH BLIND & Disabled receives many calls from people who would like to continue living at home but know they need to make some changes to ensure their home remains safe, easy to get around and fully accessible. This is where Jewish Blind & Disabled’s Independent Living Advisory Service (ILA) comes in; providing occupational therapist assessments for any adult from the community living with sight loss or physical disability (and based within the M25).
An occupational therapist will visit them at home and assess their needs, suggesting ways to adjust their home to help them retain their much-valued independence.
After the home visit, which is free, the occupational therapist will send a report with recommendations for any aids or home adaptations they feel will help the client. The ILA team will then support the client to access the suggested items.
Lisa Wimborne, the charity’s CEO, says: “Many of the local authorities in London have occupational therapy waiting lists of over 18 months. Our Independent Living Advisory Service is another example of how we as a community are plugging the gaps to ensure people have the help they need to live safely in their own home.”
SANDRA’S STORY
• Sandra H, 89, is partially sighted and has arthritis. She lives with her son, Robin. Last year, Robin called the ILA and requested a home visit. Following the assessment, the ILA’s occupational therapist Shelly recommended that Sandra would benefit from having a stairlift.
Sandra had been reliant on Robin to get her upstairs and downstairs, especially to the bathroom, which is on the first floor.
Shelly submitted her report and helped Robin apply for a grant to the council, and six months later the council installed a stairlift and grab rails in her home.
Sandra’s son, Robin, told us: “Mum is very grateful for the stairlift. She can use it by herself without any help, which is great because she can be fully independent and not have to call me.
“We’re so pleased with the ILA, especially because our local council told us we’d have to wait around two years to be assessed by an occupational therapist.
“Shelly, the OT, was helpful as she dealt with the council and kept me fully informed the whole time. If we’d waited two years for the council’s assessment I know Mum would have gone downhill. Things were very hard for her before this; now she’s so much happier.”
MICHELE’S STORY
• While Sandra’s stairlift is already making a big difference to her quality of life, some other ILA clients are excited about the home adaptations which are on their way.
Michele A, who is in her late sixties and lives in Gants Hill, is looking forward to major building works this spring, widening her kitchen doorway and converting her bathroom into a wet room. Her local council will be footing the bill for these works, thanks to the report compiled by the ILA’s occupational therapist.
Around seven months ago, Michele was suddenly unable to walk and had to use a wheelchair.
As well as facing a life-changing diagnosis, Michele also had to tackle the very real difficulties of using a wheelchair in a home not designed to accommodate one.
Not only could she no longer get into her kitchen, she was also struggling to manoeuvre her wheelchair in the bathroom, her chair bashing tiles off the wall each time she entered. Michele tells us:
“I felt fantastic when Shelly, the OT, told me the council had approved everything in her report! I was stunned they’d agreed to pay for everything, even converting my normal bathroom into a modern wet room. Both Shelly and the surveyor she sent round were marvellous.
“When Shelly assessed my home she couldn’t believe I wasn’t able to use my kitchen. She said ‘you can’t live like this’. And she was right.
Now, I’m so glad I heard about the ILA, because it means I don’t have to leave my lovely flat — and I’m so excited about getting a kitchen I can actually get into!”
As well the larger items, the ILA will also recommend smaller aids and adaptations such as handrails, kitchen gadgets, toilet seat raisers and perching stools.
Things were very hard for Mum before; she’s so much happier now