Think of this: a plan to ‘warehouse’ disabled people.

[SerendipityJane]

maybe just send them to Rwanda ? Out of sight, out of mind etc ...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/25/warehouse-disabled-people-bristol-city-council

It's not about management, it's about support. Depending on someone's needs it can be a 24/7 job. How are people supposed to do that AND feed themselves? Working families can barely afford food and rent.
Of course, the majority of countries don't give a shit about their residents and the UK seems to be heading that way.

The funny thing is, it would be far cheaper for the state to pay someone the equivalent of their former (and to a certain extent, projected) salary to care for a family member rather than paying several carers a day, all of this care home stuff etc etc. But they won't do that because well the optics aren't great.

Ive no idea how people do it, either physically, financially or emotionally

But people in other countries do. And I wouldnt say its because they dont give a shit about their communities, most other countries are far more community minded than we are.

I think some people on this thread think it's okay to speculate on what should happen to disabled people because the disabled are viewed as a burden on the state - well I've got news for you. Unless your household earns £41k or over, the liklihood is that you are also taking out of the system more than you put in over your lifetime.

So instead of warehousing the disabled who already have enough on their plate to contend with, I propose we forcibly move able-bodied retail assistants, delivery drivers, porters, newly qualified nurses, classroom assistants, admin workers, childminders, clerks, cleaners, dog walkers, artists, bar staff, gardeners and library assistants into care homes instead. They can be valuable members of the community from there, right?

If you don't agree with this, then why not? They exist on the exact same sliding scale as disabled people, but if forcibly moving them in to a care home would be an affront to human dignity why is it okay for that gentleman in the OP?

I'm not one of the people who thinks disabled people should be moved to care homes but actually, in 2023. Very few of those people you mentioned can actually afford their own homes, single. Especially in London. Most of them live in shared housing and have to pay through the nose for it. Housing benefit for a single person is calculated based on a room in shared housing.

Does that count?

What about all the people sofa surfing like that gentleman in Glasgow working 50 hours in a chip shop?

Btw I don't agree that any of this should be happening just pointing out conditions are being eroded for everyone. There are many ableist comments on this thread but it's not just the disabled that are being shafted.

My son requires 24 hour 2:1 care. For the last year he was at home I could barely work (I ran my own business - as it was the only way I could work at all) and my husband had to leave work at 2pm every day to help out. Luckily he was senior enough to get away with it. His younger siblings had to manage themselves because ds1 required 2:1.

i had to sleep in with ds1 and we had multiple meetings - because the situation was so difficult. Social services love the dream world of someone free stepping in. But how? How would that happen in this sort of situation. People who have expensive packages of care in their own home all have very complex needs that cannot be filled by a family member giving them a lift somewhere or popping round to make a cup of tea.

Housing is a huge issue and keeps learning disabled people in locked wards for decades.

My son won the lottery in terms of housing. He was locked up at a time when the NHS was a) putting money into buying homes for people to live in (and that saves the NHS money - his time he spent on the locked ward cost waaay more than his house) and b) we lived in an area that was skilled at using the available money to buy houses.

If he was locked up now I don’t think we could get him out unless we could buy him a house.

Even better, they'll love it at Meadow View.

If they can get a room that is, because guess what even 'care homes' don't have space now :)

As a PP said, despite all the headlines. I don't think people are actually going to be put anywhere. They're just going to be left with the status quo and family will have to pick up the pieces.

Until someone dies

Or attacks someone and murders them.

Then everyone starts handwringing about how the disabled or those with severe MH/functioning difficulties are being let down. Then everyone forgets about it again.

He can still be an important, valued and active member of the community living from a care home.

The man in the article is a school governor and is training to be a social worker

Only 30% of care homes have Internet access for their residents. If he ends up in one of the other 70% how on earth can he possibly continue to be an important, valued and active member of the community when he won't even be afforded access to the Internet?

It brings to mind that Nei Kinnock speech from all those years ago.

“I warn you not to be ordinary. I warn you not to be young. I warn you not to fall ill. I warn you not to get old.”

We should be warning people not to be disabled, clearly.

And we like to call ourselves a civilised society.

Agree 100% (& are you an SLT? Hello from a fellow SLT if so!)

This disgusting.

However woke we get, disability seems to never, ever get any spotlight.

Ds has severe needs but gets picked on to the point of tears at Cubs in our commuter belt town where a three bed semi cost 750k but disability hate speech is rife in the kids. Their parents may or not be horrified to hear what they say.

The way my kids are treated is real eye opener to the thinly disguised digust and contempt.

But one stroke or car crash later these people who recoil at disability would expect good care and respect for themselves or loved ones..

Every time someone is rude to me I point out they are just one accident away from being us and they won't have a proactive mum advocating for them.

But disability happens to others, and others don't matter as it will be "us"

Nice one!

We are in comparison to a lot of countries - especially on corporation tax.

There are of course situations where going into a care home is the right thing. There are many many more situations where this is not appropriate and driven purely by cutting costs by any means - which is what this article is focusing on.

Do you provide care for a disabled child or adult out of interest?

Almost the same thing happened to me, although I’m not life limited. The thought that I should be dumped in a care home if my husband isn’t around to look after me is fucking appalling.

For those of you wanging on about taxpayers money, I worked full time for nearly 30 years before this happened and paid my fair share of taxes. Many disabled people use the support of a PA to enable them to carry on working and paying bloody tax. How are they going to do that if they’re shoved in a care home?

The care homes around here can’t even provide enough spaces for the elderly disabled. Lack staff/lack of funding etc.

This is all pie in the sky.🙄

There's more options than living alone (or only disabled person) and a large cars home. Those needing a lot of support, especially 24/7 may be able to live with a few others, similar to a house share, with others and carers can be shared, plus can mean company for carers too. Dsd's house has 4 disabled young women, then 3 carers (2 overnight, one sleeps one awake) it works really well and is no doubt cheaper than dad having 24/7 1:1 including waking nights which she needs, means she has "friends" and crucially if something happens her 1:1 has back up from the house manager

OP are you actually going to come back and explain this post, because it looks to me like you don’t think that we have the same right to a life as everyone else.

Which is brilliant for your DD, but there are no facilities like this in my town or the seven closest towns within a 15 mile radius.

I think the term ‘warehouse’ is unfortunate. In my view, every effort should be made to be provide the care and support that is appropriate to each individual within the confines of the budgets available.

In an ideal world, each person would have round the clock carers at home but there are neither the staff nor the resources to facilitate that. The needs of the individual have to be balanced against a number of factors- for example, is it right that millions of pounds are spent to benefit one individual which could be used to help many more?

Yep guilty as charged - I'm a SLT!

Those posters who seem to see no issue with this, go and look at Tess Daly (tess.daly) on Instagram and see all that she is able to achieve with the support of her PAs, then come back and tell me how the hell she would be able to maintain that same life in a care home. She wouldn’t.

Disabled people are just that, people, and deserve to have autonomy over their own lives. Locking them away in care homes, against their will, is absolutely barbaric and anyone who even remotely supports this idea should be truly ashamed of themselves.

@FlatWhiteExtraHot

There was probably is, hers was set up by social services, the house is housing association owned. Others I know are set up by parents, often with young people who went to school together. They live fully in the community so it's not obvious like a care home. Bristol has several I personally know of!

@BedBugs5

So true, and living alone isn't necessarily best for all.