DISABLED FACILITIES GRANT

[denise2]

Posting to let people know of a grant available for adapting homes:

 

We have just had a bedroom built for our AS son under the disabled facilities grant. We live in a 2 bedroom house and our son has been sharing with his NT sister. It was getting very stressful due to his meltdowns and sleep problems and so we tried to remortgage to pay for an extension (something we had always planned to do). However hubby had been advised to find a job with more consistent hours to be at home more and to give more of a routine to our son. This obviously caused a drop in income and the bank would not let us remortgage. In desperation I phoned the council to see if they provide loans. They told me to contact the Child and disabilities team about a disabled facilities grant. I spoke to the OT and she agreed to come out for an assessment.

 

When the OT came out she agreed to refer us but told us not to have much hope as they tend to only deal with physical disabilities. Also as we had a child of each sex, it was considered our responsibilty to provide seperate rooms. It went to grants and they did not think that we qualifed. We then provided a letter from our local CAFTS stating the urgency to seperate them. Eventually the grants decided to come and see what the fuss was about.

 

When the grants people came out I showed them a list of reasons why he needed it and why we could not afford to do it ourselves and they immediatley moved us to a mandatory grant. After calculations our contribution for a large room and entrance lobby was �340.

 

We are now currently in the process of decorating it. They looked at all his needs and have provided areas for furniture, study, and entertainment.

 

The grant is not very well advertised, and most people believe it is only for adapting houses for the physically disabled.

 

If any one wants more information let me know.

 

Denise 2

[elainem]

well done to you, really pleased to hear everything worked out for you. Thank you for sharing.

 

Elaine

[KarenT]

That's excellent, and well done to you for pushing till you got it. I hope it helps.

 

Karen

x

[mandyque]

I've been lucky enough to have occupational therapy on board for a few years now, we have had a number of adaptations done to help deal with dd's problems, special flooring in her bedroom to deal with smearing, a cupboard built in her room to stop her climbing on the 'box' over the stairs, the radiator removed and an electric heater placed high up because she kept kicking it, the window is toughened and coated with one way film so nobody can see in her room as she strips off and has torn her curtains down We have stable doors in the living room and her bedroom, the bottom half locks so she can stay safe without me cutting her off and not being able to see her. I'm currently after special outdoor surfaces in the back garden to make it better for her to play in as she can't go outside to play in the street and has nowhere to ride her bike or scooter, the path in our garden is very narrow. Oh yeah and they built us a 6ft fence so the garden was safe for her

 

It has helped having a community nurse who is flummoxed by her

[Elanor]

Thank's so much for posting this - I'd never heard of this grant. I'm going to spread the word in my local parents support group.

 

Elanor

[smallworld]

I think I'm right in saying that this grant is means-tested in England and Wales but not in Northern Ireland, no idea about Scotland ?

The threshold was an annual income of �23,000. My sister put me on to this grant, as you say, it's not advertised well, if at all !!!

 

wac

Edited October 14, 2005 by waccoe

[madmooch]

I tried for this grant and was told "No, we only help with access requirements" So I pushed and was told if i wanted a council house they would help but no money for an extention .

All i've got off them so far is 2 wooden safety gates that look like garden gates which H still climbs over

I also asked them for a higher garden fence as he's escaping Alas no, they only help with inside the house unless it's for access, that bl**dy word again .

[mandyque]

Mad mooch have you tried occupational therapy? I have the same issues with my daughter and they provided a 6ft fence around my back garden so she had somewhere to play outside in safety, and they also made her bedroom and my living room doors into stable style doors, higher than safety gates and the bottom half can be locked for safety.

[madmooch]

Sorry I forgot to mention this was the ot who said this

[mom on a mission]

so pleased to hear that some of you have managed to get help from disabled resourses we tryed this grant for a bedroom for all the same problems with our son however after two years of constantly chasing them up and sending letters of support from various proffessionals they turned us down flat and there reason was that under there guide lines autism wasnt a dissability ! we have had no support from them atall , we had to have bars fitted to the windows as my son kept climbing out, we had to fund these ourselves as they wouldnt help ,again our son isnt dissabled ! of course all children are convinced they are spiderman and can jump from windows how ever they did give us an opption on the bedroom situation we could sell our home and be priority on a council list for a three bedroomed house , which just isnt really an opption we have struggled hard to get on the property ladder and dont wish to come off and imagine the stress of moving weve done it once with our son and it was a nightmare not to be repeated. any way i havent been on site for a while things have been bad i have been diagnosed with MS so disabled resourses here i come lets see if they can help my family this time around. for those of you that do have success with them good on yer and keep it up they need to understand and help more familys devestated by asd. WELL DONE