February 15, 2017
Paul gets support twice a week, mostly to help with shopping. He says that he and his wife do the cooking and cleaning by themselves.
They used to get support from one provider, but says that they kept sending different people every time, and “I’d rather stick to one person and one person only.” So they changed to a different provider.
Now they get the same person every time, but complain that he is always early “which we don’t like.” When asked whether he thought his support was good overall, Paul replied, “Beggars can’t be choosers, can they?” I asked him what he meant by that and he replied, “Well you can’t choose your support, can you?”
Dawn has support for an hour a week, to help her manage her finances. “They look at my money with me and see if I have enough to pay my bills,” she explains.
“They are good,” she says. “It’s the same person each time, and I have a good relationship with her. She’s been coming now for 3 years, but I knew her before that from when I lived in Supported Living.”
I asked her what she thought of Paul saying, “Beggars can’t be choosers.” She said she felt very strongly that people with learning disabilities should be able to choose their own support.
“You choose who you get to see,” she said. “So why shouldn’t people with learning disabilities choose? If you’re going to let somebody into your home, you have got to be able to trust them.”
Dawn also receives help with cooking from the staff at the care home in which she lives.
