This has been shared by the parent of an SEN child that has been identified by professionals as needing a home with an accessible bathroom and possibly a stairlift but the assessment was only carried out with the bathroom in mind. The council have refused to move the family to a house that would accommodate the child's needs and have given the reasons of housing bands. The parent has now been told she needs to submit a Subject access Request (SAR) in order to access the report and continues to go on with no support for her own physical pain which makes caring for her son even harder:
"An OT (Occupational Therapy) report was requested by the council housing team. The report has been written by someone who has never been to the house or even met my disabled son. This report is such a failure that we are low down in the banding (4) and can’t be moved higher, even though I cannot bathe my son, nor can he access the toilet to match his toilet training at school. I also cannot always get him upstairs. The report is based on us been seen at home by . She assessed our bathroom and determined we need to move, and have an accessible bathroom as there’s nothing they can do to make our current bathroom accessible. Nothing else was assessed. The council refuse us to be in band 2, which is unable to access the bathroom…. which my son cannot. Yet OT have refused (by email) to do an up to date and accurate report as it’s at their highest level apparently. The report states an accessible bathroom and possibly in the future a stairlift. He needs that now as he can only crawl up the stairs and often refuses. No conversations with me about whether my son can even access a stairlift himself, which he would need to do due to his weight. Nor does it state the stairs must still be secured, I’ve no idea if they can be with a stairlift! I use stair gates as he cannot get up and down them safely and had no danger awareness. It also states a recommendation for a 3 bed with 1 child in the lounge. I have a 4 bed now and have 1 in the lounge! Using my dining room as a lounge as my disabled son needs a safe and secure place to play, eat and have any therapies or see therapists. None of his needs other than an accessible bathroom have been acknowledged! The OT said (by email) I need to do a SARS to get a copy of the report. I’ve requested this via Data Protection and they asked for more information, name & address were given. I’m still waiting. Everyday I wake up with backache. I have no help or support to assist with carrying and lifting him."
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