Concern: Haringey families of disabled children are NOT getting the support they need in lock-down
- By Brian Leveson
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- 31 May, 2020
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At the moment, Haringey Council are spending money on services that people are not receiving in lock-down. Those services are respite in the form of short breaks for children with disabilities. It's not just us, families have contacted us in frustration that they cannot spend respite money to meet needs. We did the reasonable thing - we contacted Haringey, over and over and over again - who sent us of a response that does little to add clarity to the situation
The government have issues the following Coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance: guidance for people receiving direct payments: This guidance is aimed at people who receive support via direct payments through personal budgets and personal health budgets, and local authorities, clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and providers who support and deliver care via direct payments. It sets out key messages to support planning and help slow the transmission of the coronavirus (COVID-19) as the outbreak progresses across the country.
We keep raising this issue - people with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by the lock-down - it is important that the support is in place to meet additional needsWe keep raising this issue - people with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by the lock-down - it is important that the support is in place to meet additional needs
In the interest of transparency, we wrote an open letter to the Haringey Chief Executive, published again below
With no clear response, we made a formal complaint - In the interest of transparency published again below: With no clear response, we made a formal complaint - In the interest of transparency published again below:
Meeting minutes from the 24.04.20 co-production meeting - action* 3.5 : NJ to work with colleagues to ensure revised guidance taking account of Covid-19 impacts and lockdown restrictions is available to parents of disabled children, on the SEND webpages and on the Local Offer as a priority
Here is the reply we got last week - In the interest of transparency published again below:
Here is why we are unsatisfied with this reply- In the interest of transparency published again below:
Here is what neighbouring boroughs have done:
If you thought SEND was bad - the NHS is seemingly prepared to throw away money to private companies
About 3 or 4 times a year we get the euphemistic message 'Parents please note we have put a letter in your child's bag' - its a world away from how a child's death was handled in my child's first school
More of a trial by ordeal than a well organised clearly set out administrative process for moving the care of vulnerable young adults from Haringey's Children's Services to Adult Services. We have been failed at every stage of the process.
Never EVER get on the bus without a camera running if you need the priority wheelchair space
The reality of using a London Bus in the teeming rain on a Sunday afternoon is no joke when the parents of a paraplegic person in a wheelchair clash with the self-entitled buggy-pushing parents of toddlers.
At 3pm today I received some barefaced lies from Haringey Council Adult Social Care in response to a photograph I published online yesterday and the media interest it generated
Haringey SEND Transport are insisting that a 17 year old minibus with no air conditioning is a suitable vehicle to transport my paraplegic son in this heatwave. The appalling conditions inside the minibus inside the bus is something they knew about last summer, yet they have to date done nothing whatsoever provide a suitable minibus this year nor appropriately mitigate the temperatures inside the minibus.The conditions inside the minibus are so bad that they triggered multiple seizures during the heatwave as my son has epilepsy, which they SEND transport department know about and they also know that they are triggered by heat.It is not just son who is impacted: last year we know of one child who died on Haringey SEND Transport in the summer heatwave and another who had seizures.
I am simply asking a question - are we all absolutely certain that the road closure / travel restrictions (commonly know as LTNs) placed on some of the most severely disabled people who are wholly reliant on cars are absolutely necessary
Haringey's road closures exemptions policy for disabled people is not fit for purpose, unduly burdensome and intrusive - it's time to stand up against the pro-LTN lycra-clad cycling bullies
Is the argument for and against exemptions for disabled people in Low Traffic Neighbourhoods really a case of GOOD versus EVIL?
