People like ‘Stuart’ need it.

The Coalition Government decided that disabled people living in care homes should not be given, from 2012, the Mobility Allowance that allowed them to get out of the home they were living in.

Disabled organisations protested against this ruling and the Government have given way a little and postponed the change to 2013.

I would like to tell you about a man that I know, who currently receives this allowance and lives in a care home. I will call him Stuart, not his real name.

He was born 50 years ago and, from day one, he has worn nappies (now he is an adult, they are called pads), because he is doubly incontinent. He is severely brain damaged, cannot speak, suffers from pica (he will eat anything, grass, earth) and he has epilepsy.

He is so disabled that he needs two people to keep an eye on him all day, every day.

Curiously, it is thought that he has only one pleasure in life - that is riding in a vehicle (the home’s minibus). In it he sits content and relaxed. Withdrawing the Mobility Allowance from Stuart and 80,000 other people who live in care homes is a dreadful idea.

If you agree with me, that it should not be withdrawn in 2013, write to protest to the Prime Minister in Downing Street and to your local MP.

ALF BOOM

Honiton