Banned from her own disability tribunal... because of her wheelchair

[Michael Browne]

A disabled woman was barred from a tribunal to decide whether she was entitled to benefits – because she was in a wheelchair.

 

Sylvia Middleton, 65, was turned away by security staff in case a fire broke out in the five-storey building.

 

It later emerged that wheelchair users have been denied entry to Acorn House in Basildon, Essex, for three months over the misplaced health and safety concerns.

 

They included others attending disability tribunals and workers attempting to visit offices in the mixed-use block.

 

‘They said they couldn’t guarantee my safety and they didn’t let my wheelchair upstairs,’ said Miss Middleton, who was summoned to the fourth-floor hearing by the Department for Work and Pensions to be reassessed for Disability Living Allowance.

 

‘Why are they holding disability tribunals in a building disabled people aren’t allowed in?’

Divorcée Miss Middleton has been without her £50-a-week payments since December 2011 when they were suspended after an ‘administration error’.

 

She has been managing on her £140-a-week pension in her two-bedroom bungalow in Pitsea, Essex, while waiting for the benefit to be reinstated.

 

After she and her son, Peter, were refused entry on February 2 she was told she would have to wait another two months for her case to be heard – this time 12 miles away in Southend.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2275000/Disabled-mother-told-attend-disability-tribunal-WHEELCHAIR-health-safety-risk.html#ixzz2KJb39sKe

[Nystagmite]

That is ridiculous. In this day and age, we have laws regarding accessibility. Surely they knew she uses a wheelchair, so why did they send her to somewhere inaccessible? I'm lucky - my local tribunal service is on the ground floor.

[MakemBill]

They were probably testing the lady to see if she could make it to the room without her wheelchair.

 

Devious barstewards

[dyfed]

Gross discrimination and beyond a joke. This lady should take this further, its disgusting.

 

Its society that disables people.

[antone]

They were probably testing the lady to see if she could make it to the room without her wheelchair.

 

Devious barstewards

 

Nah, don't think so - this was HM Tribunals Service, not Atos. I imagine it was just routine bureaucracy.