“My name is Phillip
Rackham, and I want to tell you about myself. I’m 52 years old and live alone in
a flat in Whetstone. I’ve lived in the borough of Barnet all my life. I have
cerebral palsy and a mild learning disability. When I was younger, I was abused
physically and mentally for being like I was. When I was 34, I moved out of my
mother’s house into a residential home. I then lived in different places, until
I moved into a ground floor flat, where I’ve lived for eleven years. In 2001 I
got married to Susie, who also had a disability. None of my family came to the
wedding. Sadly Susie died in 2005, and I’ve lived alone ever since then. I used
to be able to get about quite well, with no problems, mainly using buses. But a
couple of years ago I was knocked down by a car, and broke my hip. Since then it
has been very difficult for me to get about at all, and I have to rely on other
people for transport. That means I have to spend a lot of time in my flat, on my
own. So I’ve had a very difficult life.
(Phillip Rackham addresses Barnet Council Safeguarding committee)
But I’m a FIGHTER. I’ve joined a lot of
different organisations that have helped me stick up for myself, such as CADDSS,
BAPS, Peoples’ Choice and Barnet Mencap. They have all helped me to become more
confident, and stand up for the rights of disabled people. But the Council isn’t
helping much. I don’t think they give a DAMN about disabled people, just like
the government. I get Direct Payments, but they’re not enough. I think that
councillors probably get more, just for coming to meetings. The Council doesn’t
give me enough money for all the care and support that I have to have, such as
cooking and cleaning of my flat, and also for getting about as much as I want
and need.
I used to go to BILS (Barnet Independent Living Service) which is run
by Your Choice Barnet, but when I became a volunteer receptionist there, my
transport was taken away, so I can’t afford to go there any more. I really used
to enjoy the company I had at BILS, and I get quite lonely without it. It was an
important part of my social life. Barnet don’t want the responsibility of
looking after disabled people. That’s why they set up Your Choice, so they
wouldn’t have to bother any more. In the end, all that it’s about is MONEY,
MONEY, MONEY, which seems to be more important than caring for people. That’s
why I wanted to say all this today. I’d like to finish with a question to the
councillors: How would YOU feel if you were in my situation?”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip Rackham is a Barnet resident. The above blog is the speech he gave to the Barnet Council Safeguarding committee. Guest Blogs are always welcome.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are moderated and will not appear immediately. I moderate once per day. Comments of a personal, abusive, spam or unrelated to the topic will not appear and will be deleted.
Only comments from Registered users allowed