Hello all, first time posting so please forgive me if ive broken any rules or put this in the wrong place...I saw a post where it was asked if ppl thought it was unfair young children with disabilities, did not automatically get the +1 symbol, based on the fact that any child, disabled or not would need an adult with them- No 5 year old can go to legoland without assistance, I agree, as did most others. Only those with substantial extra needs, for example needing a qualified carer to administer medication, or needing a lot of extra equipment i suppose like oxygen tanks, whereby just mum wouldn't be enough help-would qualify, makes sense to me and seems fair.
However, for adults it gets a bit complicated as the rules are the same.
On the section about the +1 symbol it states that
"The support needed must be in excess of what could be reasonably expected of family/friends already accompanying you and must be due to disability-related needs.
The idea I guess being that your mate could carry your bag for and, or go to the bar to collect your food, you don't need a carer for things like that.
Which is all well and good...if you have a friend or family member to go with, or one that wanted to attend the same event as you, in the first place.
If you don't, but you still need someone to go with you due to your disability, you would eithee be looking to employ someone, say from a carers agency to assist you, or possibly paying for a full priced ticket for a friend family member to go somewhere they had no interest in, just so you had the help you needed. Given that the entire idea is to not get the cost of needing assistance be a barrier to you attending events, I thinks it's unreasonable to asume you would always have someone going with you anyway. Lots of people do not have friends and go out alone, many have become estranged from friends and family- by choice or circumstance, and this is especially true for many disabled people. I think this really should be based on whether you NEED assistance, not if you have a friend who can help you or not. I can prove I need the help, I can't prove I have no one willing, able and or available to provide it-should that exclude me from support? My social life will not improve unless I am able to go out and meet people, which I can't do because I need assistance, but nimbus thinks a friend or family member (because apparently all disabled people have huge support network?) should be sufficient. And you can see the catch 22 I find myself in.
Am I being unreasonable?
I have emailed nimbus explaining this and asking them to reconsider the +1 symbol on my card, just looking for others opinions?
Thanks