Disability Cases

Pushed to the side

Ms C had a history of mental illness and lived on her own in a housing association property. The behaviour of one of her neighbours had been causing her considerable stress and anxiety over many years.  The harassment was so severe that the Court had to grant an injunction preventing the neighbour from any further contact with Ms C.

Sadly, the neighbour breached the injunction and Ms C continued to live in fear. She reported her problems both to the police and housing association but because of her history of mental illness neither would take her seriously.  This was despite the fact that both the police and housing association had CCTV evidence of the harassment.

The law centre took up her case and assisted with a formal complaint which went to stage three of the housing association complaints procedure.  The housing association accepted the law centre's argument that it had failed in its duty towards Ms C.  Ms C was awarded compensation and was moved to a flat where she now feels secure.  As a result her mental health has improved and she is now working.

How do you have a voice if you have a reading age of 6?

Ms M was a young single mother; her oldest child was 7 years old when she first came to Streetwise. She had a difficult education and very limited literacy. When assessed she was determined to be severely dyslexic and had a reading age of just 6 years old.

She feared that her son showed signs of all the same behavioural issues she exhibited as a child and had persistently requested that the school referred him for a statutory assessment of his special needs without success. When she attended a legal advice agency, Ms M was 3 months out of time for filing an appeal against the latest decision not to assess her son.

The agency successfully filed an out of time appeal and proceeded to represent Ms M, the case proceeded to the Upper Tribunal on appeal who then found in Ms M's favour. Ms M's son became the subject of a statutory assessment, given a full statement of special educational needs and considerable support to aid his literacy and language development which was assessed as considerably impaired.

From a single doorway...

Mr J suffered from progressive degenerative multiple sclerosis which had developed into paralysis in all four limbs. He wished to remain living independently in his council flat for as long as possible but needed adaptations to the door to enable him to enter and leave in his electric wheelchair.

The Council repeatedly turned down his requests for this minor alteration. Mr J, who lives alone, was trapped unless a carer came to assist him. He decided to seek help from his local Law Centre.

An official complaint was made but to no avail. They took the case to the Ombudsman, far beyond the scope of what Mr J was capable of, and the case was successful. Mr J was awarded £1,000 in compensation, and the council adapted the door for him.