Is this disability discrimination

[Sweetfa22]

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?

[Reow]

It's a shame for you. If this post is real.

But as others have said, you chose to spend a huge enormous figure on a home and garden you didn't own.

What should they have done? It wasn't possible to add a ramp to your previous home, so you were found a new more suitable home. They're not responsible for redecoration.

I'm a bit lost on how you can be on a low enough income to be entitled to a council property, but still have £10k to redecorate and landscape a garden?! We are both in work ft on decent salaries and don't have that to fix up our home!

[Chloe84]

I can't decide which is the most short-sighted:

The council spending thousands of pounds on a wet room for a house with 8 big steps and no ramp

Or you spending £9k on making a garden accessible in a house with 8 big steps and no ramp

What a waste of money. Chances are your old house will be no good for another disabled tenant for exactly the same reason it's no good for you. The council should have moved you instead of building a wet room for you, into a house that could support a ramp and a wet room.

[Silentplikebath]

There's no such thing as 'registered disabled'. Do you mean you started to claim DLA or PIP?

I'm sorry you've had such a tough time but the council have housed your family in suitable, safe accommodation which meets your basic needs.

Why can't your DH or 20 year old DC cook using your oven while you saved up for a new one?

[KateDaniels2]

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.

You clearly say you landscaped your garden to make it more accessible for you. Then claim you landscaped before your disability?

How does that work?

[TestingTestingWonTooFree]

OP hasn't made it clear, but she might not be getting any housing benefit. I don't think her house is "free". (Although I do think it's unlikely that people who get a council house and have 5 children will have paid more tax than they've received, unless they've paid for private healthcare and education).

Being disabled is shit. I can see why you're disappointed OP. It doesn't sound like disability discrimination to me. Perhaps a disability charity of Shelter would be able to give you some specialist advice?

[TestingTestingWonTooFree]

9k landscaping is easily done. My tricky garden will cost 2-3 times as much for nothing very exciting. 9k is way more than I'd spend on a rental though, even if it was as secure as a council house.

[GabsAlot]

9k on a garden u dont own? theres your mistake right there-i dont even spend that on a garden i do own

its at your risk to redecorate somewhere u rent there will always be a chance u have to leave

[Lynnm63]

I don't see how you'd having any grounds to sue. Personally I wouldn't have spent the 9k on the garden in a rented house. Obviously you've agreed to move but as your illness was progressive checking out wheelchair access should have been done long before you needed a wheelchair.
I'm disabled myself so you have my sympathy but being disabled sucks, you have to live with things you never expected but that isn't the councils fault. You'll just have to get your new house how you like it over time. Have you applied for a disabled facilities grant at the new house for any alterations you might need?

[SaucyJack]

I'm sorry you had to leave a house you'd spent time and money making into what you thought would be your forever home, but there's been no discrimination and you have no cause to sue.

Don't waste your energies on getting upset with your council, as objectively speaking it sounds as though they did all they could within their own elf'n'safety limits to make your old house accessible.

And I'm afraid it's of absolutely no consequence to anyone but yourselves whether you've spent 9 pounds or 9 thousand pounds on decorating/home improvements for both houses. That's just the nature of the beast when renting social housing.

[Sweetpotatoaddict]

Blimey, op your situation sucks. I am at all the responses criticising you.
I can't imagine how it must feel to have to move house because of health and I think what you were trying to put across was that you had made all these adaptations to the house but the council couldn't even manage a ramp.
I don't think suing them is the answer, but I do understand your frustration.
The council tax one is quite common, older houses are generally banded much lower than new ones, as new ones are based on value which means I have stayed in a band d new one bedroom flat and currently live in a band c old house. Council tax banding can be rather unfair imo.

[whatsthepointofmorgan]

You spent money on a home you didn't own,

You spent £9 k on your back garden, but expect the council to foot the cost for other things in the house?

I'm sorry you have a disability, but it's your disability.
If they have the money to help you then that would be great. But they are under no obligation to fork out for you.
Unless of course they caused your disability. (that would be another matter) Which they didn't.

[whatsthepointofmorgan]

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

I think it's a wind-up. I agree, I've never met anyone so entitled in RL.

[maggiecate]

There's a maximum safe gradient for installing a ramp, and if the council could have done it, given what they've already invested in modifying the property, they would have done. Case in point:

www.express.co.uk/news/uk/459535/Mum-s-fury-after-council-WIPES-OUT-front-garden-to-install-40k-disabled-ramp-for-daughter

[AndNowItsSeven]

I just don't understand why you didn't sort out your own ramp maybe at the back foot or a lift.

[Chloe84]

So why say it again, theCatsMother ?

Just report it instead of troll hunting.

[Lockheart]

I do really feel for you - leaving what you hoped would be a forever home must be devastating. But I don't think this is discrimination, sorry.

[DontTouchTheMoustache]

It could only be discrimination if you had been treated unjustly due to your disability but that's not the case as the council have done everything within their power to accommodate your situation. If you tried to sue they could easily show they have done everything reasonably possible to make your home accessible and failing that to find you a property which suits your needs. What exactly would you have expected them to do further to what they have done for you?

[FeliciaJollygoodfellow]

Sweetpotato - the OP managed the garden. The council managed a wet room and a bin ramp and other unspecified adaptations.

[TheCatsMother99]

I've already reported it.

Sorry but I can't imagine how anyone would imagine the council could be sued. The op has already contradicted themselves and it seems likely, not just to me but others, that this post was started to wind people up... which it'd doing.

[whatsthepointofmorgan]

The council managed a wet room and a bin ramp and other unspecified adaptations.

From the council's point of view, they've already spent a shitload on making life easier for you.
There are others out there, in a similar situation, who also need help.
They are not a bottomless pit.

[Sweetfa22]

I did say I was emotional in the OP and I wrote in the heat in the moment. The garden was a shit tip when we moved in. So much so that the kids couldn't even get out to play in it so we had to fix it. £9k was spent over 4 years using a small lump sum we aquired then adding bits to it here and there as dh loves to grow things. Yes it helped me get out the back and enjoy watching the kids play. It also gave dh something to focus on. Yes we expected to be in the house forever. My condition was only diagnosed as quicker progressive after we'd done this work. We get no housing benefit so our homes are not free. 5 kids are a blessing and we were both working up until the last birth left me with my condition. We never dreamed my condition would deteriorate so quickly hence no forward thinking. Completely our fault of course, I get that. Not all people in council houses are poor or scroungers so that's a bit offensive tbh. We had saved a bit but not a lot so why not make a nice garden when you don't think you'll have to leave it ever. New house was a tip so definitely had to be redecorated as have young kids running about so needed to be warm and comfy. I need to be warm and comfy. An outside stair lift was mentioned but the costs were too high and no we didn't have the money for that ourselves. Council wrote and gave us our only options. I've certainly never been an "entitled" person as you put it, I'm just so pissed off at the whole situation in general. Thank you to those of you kind enough to have a bit of empathy for my situation and it's very much appreciated. My head's a mess and I don't know how to word things properly.

[SailAwayWithMeHoney]

Whilst the situation sucks OP there's no discrimination.

The council haven't acted unfairly at all. Sometimes the gradients of the steps to put in a suitable ramp just isn't possible. They've done everything they can. Further to that, if money is this tight already can you really afford the legal and court costs of attempting to sue?
I think you need to seriously think about the costs involved in what you're proposing. Especially if you lose - which is a massive possibility.

[teresa2003]

Yabu. No one is liable for your disability as it wasn't a result of anyone's negligence. If it were you would be entitled to compensation to cover costs of adaptations etc. But still you seem to be holding the council liable for your expenses. Plus able to afford five kids and 9k on a garden and you are in social housing?

[Allthewaves]

Unfortunately it's just plain bad luck with your medical condition. In a way you are lucky you were in a council house and not private and able to have the council make accomadations in the first place. If you had owned your own home these options wouldn't have been available. When you home wasn't suitable an alternative was found - again luckily as not many people would have this option

I think you need to focus on your new home and try not to get worked up about the past. Think yourself lucky that you have a suitable home now that you can live in happily with your family, instead if focusing on the money