Unfortunately the Tasker twins are not the only disabled children in Brighton and Hove to be denied suitable social housing (The Argus, November 13).
I contacted the housing department three years ago as our severely disabled child was confined to one room most of the time, was unsafe in the house, had no bedroom of his own and our backs were breaking from lifting him.
A housing officer told me we would not be a priority because we were not homeless.
I was advised that we could become a priority by making ourselves "homeless" but that all we would be guaranteed was B&B in one room (for two adults and three kids) with no wheelchair access.
I know of other families with physically disabled children waiting for years and being offered homes with no wheelchair access.
Only this year, one parent witnessed an empty council property being stripped of its disabled adaptations to house a family with no disabilities. Moving the "problem" to Wales or the North looks dangerously like social cleansing.
If there are not enough properly adapted properties for disabled children, with access, space and safety features, is there not a moral - if not a legal - obligation to include more in the new social housing projects?
The council and housing associations could keep a list of their adapted or potentially adaptable properties and make sure they are never given to people without disabilities.
Presumably the Gehry and Gough creations are going to include truly affordable disabled-friendly housing?
It is time for the housing department to move with the times and truly get a grip of disability issues.
I wish the Taskers luck. I suspect their piece in The Argus will prove more fruitful than five years on the waiting list.
-Name and address supplied
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