Frustration and despair, are the feelings that are shared by numerous disabled people. These are not born out of inevitable circumstances but from inadequate and inappropriate housing conditions.
There are a vast number of disabled people who are struggling, living in flats above the ground floor. Constantly finding themselves trapped, unable to leave the building when the lift is not working. This is not only an inconvenience but also a danger to their safety and infringes on their basic human rights.
It is of paramount importance to underpin that many disabled-adapted flats are not accommodating the needs of disabled people who live above the ground floor. It’s a silent crisis of accessibility!
According to the Equality Act 2010, reasonable adjustments must be made to buildings to prevent disabled individuals from being at a disadvantage (source: UK Government). Yet, many building operators neglect this.
Therefore, it’s urgent to demand the authorities to enhance inspection and enforcement of the existing laws which ensure homes for disabled people are above and beyond minimum standards. The goal should be not only to comply with the law but also to facilitate a fulfilling life for every disabled person.
A place to live shouldn’t become a field for daily battle and our voices need to be heard, and the authorities need to understand the urgency of disabled people and the conditions they live in. They need to improve the living circumstances of disabled people.
And it’s not just about the lift. What would happen if there was a fire? How would these disabled people get out of the building, they wouldn’t stand a chance! People with restricted mobility should never be housed in high-rise buildings.
Councils and housing associations are not thinking about this when they house disabled people because they just don’t care, and there is not enough housing stock anymore because Margaret Thatcher thought it was a damn good idea to give people the ‘right to buy’ their homes.
Sadly, these people don’t care about their residents as long as they’re getting their money, that’s all they care about – always follow the money – corrupt comes to mind.
Blocks of flats are a safety hazard for everyone, and they need to be torn down and replaced – look what happened at Grenfell!
If lifts can’t be maintained, then knock the buildings down and rehouse the residents, and if there’s not enough housing stock, then build some more homes, even bring prefabs back, they were great.
What I would like to know is when Margaret Thatcher gave people the ‘right to buy’ where did all that money go?
The money was supposed to go back into the coffers to build more houses, but the government was never going to release those funds to build social housing.
If the lift goes out of service and a disabled or elderly person lives on the 12 floor nobody is going to climb the stairs to deliver the mail, food or medication, especially if they have no family to help. It wouldn’t surprise me that after three weeks without a lift these people are found dead.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 