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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Is this disability discrimination

140 replies

Sweetfa22 · 21/02/2017 18:20

This is my first post (although i do read loads) so please be nice as I'm an emotional wreck. Any friends here will know me and my situation. I need advice on whether you think I may have a case for discrimination against my local housing authority. It's a long one.
My dh and I have 5 kids ranging from 20 to 4. We lived in a lovely council house semi detached in a quiet area which had 6 big stone steps leading up to the front door where there were another 2 large steps to get into the house. I wasn't disabled when we got the house so all was fine. After a year I became registered disabled (I'm 44) due to chronic pain and progressive degenerative sacroilitis. I really struggle to mobilise and have been in and out of hospital loads for pain management. The council managed to adapt the inside of the house to meet my disability needs after much shouting and begging and emails to the chief exec. They installed a wet room into my downstairs bedroom so I could function a bit easier as stairs cripple me. We also spent around £9k landscaping our garden to make it accessible for me to use, with decking area, new lawn etc. It's beautiful. We'd no intention of moving home so we spent the money doing the house up. Now my condition is worsening and I was really struggling to access the house using the wheelie bin ramp that was put in as the stairs are so steep to get bins down. The council have tried everything apparantly to install a metal wheelchair ramp but they say the layour prevents them from getting the proper gradients so it couldn't be done. We were given a letter telling us to find another suitable property either through the home swap system or private rent or bid on other properties. Each option would cost us money we don't have. We've since been offered a property in another town which has level access and we've had no choice but to take it as I'm really struggling to enter/leave my old house. We had literally 2 weeks to move house as we can't afford 2 rents etc. The new place needed fully redecorated and carpeted (our existing carpets wouldn't do and my mum kindy paid for new ones). My issue is that we are now seriously in debt after having to pay for paints brushes new blinds curtains etc. My kitchen has no cooker as we had to buy new integrated oven and separate hob for the old house when it was adapted for me. This new place has no space for any of these appliances and I can't use a normal cooker as I struggle to bend down hence buying the build in oven. These appliances are still in the old house and we need to hand the keys back on Monday. We've had to fork out for a skip for rubbish, pay removal vans and spend a whole heap of money we had to borrow in order to move house. All because I'm disabled and the council couldn't put a wheelchair ramp in. I'm so angry that we get no help no recompense and nothing but debt because of this. As well as having to pay higher rent and double the council tax for a house the same size as we had to leave. If I wasn't disabled then we wouldn't have to move. Aibu to feel really pissed off and discriminated against because I'm now disabled. Do you think I have a case for suing for losses after all the work we've put into the other house, purely because they couldn't make it accessible?

OP posts:
Grilledaubergines · 21/02/2017 19:23

OP, can you find the legal costs of suing yourself?

SanitysSake · 21/02/2017 19:23

Are you, witsender?!

Grilledaubergines · 21/02/2017 19:23

Sorry not suing yourself. ...suing, yourself.

Fleab1te · 21/02/2017 19:23

We also spent around £9k landscaping our garden to make it accessible for me to use, I think you've contradicted yourself there. If you didn't have a disability why did it need to be 'accessible? '

user1487704718 · 21/02/2017 19:24

Oops posted too soon - cry with gratitude at my Council (if I had a council house) doing ANY of what they've done for you. Personally I would have stayed in your house. And found alternatives such as a lift like PP have suggested? Then you could have stayed in your home indefinitely and enjoyed what you have invested in!

I'm struggling to understand why you agreed to move????Hmm

witsender · 21/02/2017 19:25

Yes, more so than just spectating someone's dilemma which always seems rather crass. "Oh goody, a row! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

mymatemax · 21/02/2017 19:29

I sympathise but the council have met their obligations. They adapted your first home to meet your needs and then when it no longer met your needs they have provided an alternative. Very lucky that you are in council housing as I know a family who cannot afford to move as they own a small semi & now need a bungalow, totally I achievable for them. Any other changes that you have made was personal choice & the council are not responsible

SanitysSake · 21/02/2017 19:29

Not necessarily. Don't presume to understand my motives for sitting back and watching. For the record, I'm interested in seeing how this particular subject is dealt with by everyone. Which follows on closely from a previous post earlier today about MN-ers being contrarian or argumentative just for the sake of it.

Interesting that, isn't it. Spot any parallels? Wink

Now, if you'll excuse me!

AndShesGone · 21/02/2017 19:30

You haven't paid 'your fair share' of taxes. We're the same age and my 'fair share' will be paid (hopefully) by retirement aged 68.

Spongebobfrillypants · 21/02/2017 19:30

I would suggest finding out who your councillor is for the ward you live in & ask them to make enquiries for you. They should ask the council to account for their actions.

IateallthePies654 · 21/02/2017 19:31

Did the garden need to be made accessible for you or not? Confused

PolterGoose · 21/02/2017 19:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

notabee · 21/02/2017 19:35

I know it must so unfair. No one chooses to become disabled and why would you know that the stairs wouldn't be able to be made into a ramp. You wouldn't.
That all said I'm struggling to see why you'd pay to make the rented garden accessible when getting in the house wasn't.
I am sorry you're in this situation but I do think this is a case of count your blessings. You're very fortunate that the council were able to find you another fairly large house that would your needs, so many people are struggling to find this.
It's definitely not a case of discrimination.
I do hope you're all very happy in your new home but I think you need to let the old one go to move on.

Grilledaubergines · 21/02/2017 19:35

sponge the council did account for their actions though and advised OP.

Olympiathequeen · 21/02/2017 19:35

Maybe you could check the council tax banding if it is higher?

Laquila · 21/02/2017 19:35

Crickey. I sympathise but however you look at it, £9k is a shedload to spend on a garden. I have two kids and a mortgage, and I can't even afford to spend that on our (proposed) new bathroom and utility room combined!! Was it a grant relating to your disability?

gamerchick · 21/02/2017 19:37

another free house and you want to sue

There are free ones? Tell me where please because my council house costs a decent chunk of change to live in Hmm

PeppaPigTastesLikeBacon · 21/02/2017 19:43

No I don't think it's desableist. You had a house from them. They couldn't adapt it so you got another house from them. What do you expect them to do? You spent 9k on the garden instead of making suitable steps. That isn't the councils fault it's yours. I get they you didn't ask for a chronic pain condition but that isn't the councils fault. I have a chronic pain condition, I don't think the council will do anything about it for me

expatinscotland · 21/02/2017 19:44

They haven't discriminated and you have no cause to sue them Hmm.

Viviennemary · 21/02/2017 19:46

I can see why you are annoyed about the whole thing. But the Council said it couldn't provide the access you wanted in the previous property not that they wouldn't. It just couldn't be done. The Council has done what it could under the circumstances. A private landlord would probably have been far less accommodating. And surely you knew the implications when you accepted the new rental. It doesn't seem suitable for your requirements. Why didn't you turn it down and wait for a more suitable house.

2014newme · 21/02/2017 19:46

£9k on a garden revamp! When you didn't own the house!?

And now the andall the taxpayer money already spent on your house is wasted.
You've made some very reckless decisions.

SootSprite · 21/02/2017 19:46

God I hope this is a wind-up. Surely no-one is this entitled??

NotAMammy · 21/02/2017 19:47

Sorry, what are you claiming is discrimination?

From what I've understood:

  1. You were living in a house that met your needs
  2. Your needs changed (you became less able)
  3. The council made any possible adaptations, i.e. installing a wet room at no expense to you but after a considerable amount of requests
  4. You chose to spend £9k adapting the garden to your needs

Now I'm not clear on whether your needs changed further making you unable to get up and down the steps since then? You mentioned your disability as being progressive, so I'm assuming so

  1. The council surveyed the property and decided that it would not be possible/safe to install a ramp
  2. You are unwilling/unable to pay to do this privately
  3. The council have offered another property which they deem as a suitable alternative
  4. You accepted and are now moving.

I'm not trying to be a dick, but sometimes it's easier for people to offer suggestions and support if the emotion is taken out of it.
What are you asking for help on?

IMO, you are being unreasonable if you got into debt just to redecorate. We're moving next week and won't be redecorating straight away as we just can't afford to. We'll probably spend the first week eating our meals, standing by the countertop as we haven't found chairs we can afford on gumtree yet!
If you can't take your appliances and furniture from your old house can you sell them on to raise money for new stuff?
There may be community furniture places near you where you can buy appliances and furniture from at a cheaper price.

Also, you are being unreasonable to think you get anything back from what you put in to a rental property in the country, other than the benefit of having it while you live there.

I'm not sure what else you expect the council to do for you? Please clarify if you think I've misread or misunderstood your posts?

witsender · 21/02/2017 19:49

I don't the the OP needs jumping on, it sounds like a massively turbulent time.

DoloresTheRunawayTrain · 21/02/2017 19:54

YANBU to be upset, however, no matter who had paid for the ramp, it still would not have been possible to install it. This would have been the same had you been renting to property or owned it.
YANBU to feel the injustice of having made somewhere home, having to be uprooted and find this solution is not ideal either.

YABU to blame the council. You had the choice to stay and put up with it or move and put up with the limitations of this property. Put your energies into finding the solution. Can you get the kitchen in this property adapted to suit your needs? I know it means more kicking and stamping of feet to the council.