DPAC is aware that some disabled people are not receiving essential support and resources from their local Council that they need during the pandemic.
Disabled people with certain impairments and health conditions are among those most at risk from Covid 19. At the same time, the government and medical professionals have made clear that they will not even be admitted to hospital let alone prioritised for treatment. The situation many disabled people living in the community have been left in has then put them at much greater risk, without access to food deliveries or protective equipment for the personal assistants coming in and out of their homes to provide indispensable support with fundamentally important daily tasks such as eating, drinking, using the toilet and staying clean.
Some local authorities are operating good practices such as contacting everyone in their area with disability related support needs and co-ordinating deliveries of food and other supplies.
Sadly, others are not.
Inclusion London has produced a useful template letter for individuals who have not been provided with the PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) that they need for their personal assistants.
The letter can be downloaded here: https://www.inclusionlondon.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/template-letter-re-LA-failure-to-supply-PPE.doc
Scope has information on their website about how disabled people can access food and other essentials during the pandemic, including how to register as a “vulnerable” person with the government in order to access priority deliveries from supermarkets. Go to: https://www.scope.org.uk/advice-and-support/food-and-essentials-during-coronavirus/
The link to register with the government as “vulnerable” can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus-extremely-vulnerable
Disabled People’s Organisations have raised concerns about the creation of a government register of “vulnerable people” including data protection implications. There are 14 Million disabled people in the UK, qualifying for reasonable adjustments of one sort or another, but this register will only assist an anticipated 10% of disabled people. Read what Chris Fry of Fry Law has to say about the register here: http://www.frylaw.co.uk/archives/articles/dont-share-the-vulnerable-people-register/
Fry Law have developed a template letter to enable disabled customers to challenge supermarkets about lack of access to online delivery services. You can download the letter here: www.dpac.uk.net/2020/04/18010
DPAC understands that provision that is in place on paper (or on websites) too often fails to translate to provision on the ground to the people that need it. We also understand that not everyone will have the energy to both battle for your survival and share your experiences, but where possible within your individual circumstances we would like to hear about any difficulties you have faced or are facing in accessing the resources and support so that we can campaign for improvements – either using the comments below or by emailing mail@dpac.uk.net.