Discrimination by DSCFA (Dept of Social Community & Familly Affairs, -aka- SW )

Falkorre

Anyone else think this is not right, or is it just me?
I am a wheelchair user and since losing my job am on Disability Allowance..(DA)... (A social welfare allowance of €130pw, that a lot of people with disabilities get from age 16-99)...... When on DA, you are entitled to certain other things, for example, a bus pass (useless in this country)... free tv licence, mobility allowance (enuf for two 20mile approx taxi rides a MONTH),..... and such.

Thing is, you are also entitled to go and visit your community welfare officer in your local health center if you have an emergency and need a cash payment, for instance, anything from flood damage to having your cooker repaired. and i havent asked for a single thing in over 5 years and even then it was because i needed a pair of specially adapted shoes.

Now, I am a 25year old gay man, in a relationship of 4 years, I live with my partner who also cannot work, so I have been the main income provider for a while.

As we have pretty much always been on a pretty low income, (i can pretty much only work from home despite being pretty highly qualified)..... when we needed a new bed last year, we could only afford a rather cheap one with a cheap orthopedic mattress that has caused me no end of back pain for ages (I have spina bifida and a sensitive back at the best of times).....Anyways, the mattress on that bed now has 3 or four nasty bare springs actually thru the outer cover and is unusable..... right now I am using it upsidedown but this is very very risky as I have no feeling in my lower body and a cut wont be felt, and i cant just turn it over as this would ruin the base....

I have been "informed" by my "welfare" officer, that, as I am not married, no will I be, I am not entitled to a grant to cover the cost of a *double* matress. This implies (IMHO) that were I straight, I would be entitled?

I also provided a LOT of medical proof that I needed a double even if purely for medical reasons, As I am a wheelchair user I have several associated medical considerations they are supposed to take into account, like, I have epilepsy and often have seizures in bed, I also have pressure sores so a good matress is imperative.

Maybe i am being oversensitive, but it seems to me, that they are basically saying, as I am GAY AND A WHEELCHAIR USER, and will never have a "wife" I am expected to give in to give into some gay + disability =No sexual life expected Idea they subscribe to! :rolleyes:

To ad insult to injury, I was told elsewhere today of a woman being given a KING-SIZE bed, who is a single mother and does not have a "live-in-lover" (i hate that phrase) nevermind a husband.
I mean fair dues to her, but *I* dont even want a BED, I just wanted to be able to buy a mattress so I wont end up in hospital lying on my stomach for weeks or months again with pressure ulcers that wont heal! Or killed because I had another grand mal seizure (i average 1 every 2 weeks) and get thrown off a single narrow bed and onto a tiled floor!! Is it TOO much to ask?

Am i really being unreasonable?? or is it how *I* see it, a DOUBLE discrimination against a gay man and a man with a disability?

I basically just want others opinions on this b4 i decide to take it further.

B

STaN

Well i can't comment due to my lack of knowledge of the situation (no more information necessary) be that legal or in your rights.

But from reading I do empathise and would recommend that you sit down and go through the situation with your officer but if he/she is not helpful .. can you go higher up or ask for another?

You need what you need

Zillah

Its not the kind of deeply ingrained furiously unjust sort of discrimination but it is certainly inconveinient and irriating. Like Stan I empathise.

Annasopra

Aagin, I'm not too sure whether this does constitute discrimination or not but it does seem completely and utterly wrong that if you can provide medical evidence that you need a double mattress, that they won't give it to you. I know from experience as well that community welfare officers can be less than helpful. Is there someone else you can go to in the health centre?

Falkorre

TBH,
The bulk of it is, it made me so angry at how illogical she was, as well as the fact that I got the distinct impression that if it wasnt for the fact that I was a gay male (and a wheelchair user, and therefore would never *need* a double for any reason *she* could comphrehend), there wouldnt have been a problem.

1st thing tomorrow, i find out who her boss is :0)

Thnx for the advice guys

B

Borzoi

Without going near the problems with the welfare, can I suggest an alternative solution.

Like yourselr my mother had back problems, and slept with a sheet of timber between the mattress and the bed. If you did this it would allow you to flip the mattress as the timber would protect the base, as well as stiffen the bed overall.

As I recall, the board was only under my mom's side as my father liked a more comfy sleep.

As I say it might be a temporary solution to your prob.