I am a hard working mother of 2 children, I don’t have an actual paid job but I work damn hard and I am not alone, there are thousands of parents like me and my husband out there. My husband does have a paid job but he’s recently had to cut back his hours to part time because of the demands of caring for our son became too much. Our son, like your’s has cerebral palsy and he sleeps through maybe 4 nights a month if we are lucky.
We are exhausted and yet we have to carry on, my husband has to work because we were not born into privilege. The “benefits” (I hate that word it makes it sound like a bonus for having a disabled child) we receive are barely keeping our heads above water and we are struggling. As you will no doubt understand our son require a lot of very expensive equipment in order to just be able to sit up and even more to be able to engage with the world around him. He also relies heavily on the NHS to keep him a live to save his life when he had a massive seizure that almost took his life, he is not alone there are thousands like him.
I am writing this letter out of anger and frustration as I don’t think you really understand the crippling pressure families like us are under. Our children need expensive equipment and therapy but we are too exhausted to work to earn the extra money needed for such things, we sometimes lack the energy to shower never mind going to find a better job or work extra hours, we don’t have the luxury of a nanny so we can work full time and meagre 3 hrs a week of care offered is just enough time to do the shopping and have a shower.
We feel guilt every day that we are letting our son down by not being able to afford equipment he needs or extra therapy when he receives non through the holidays, we are not alone in this guilt.
Our biggest fear however is what will happen to our son when you and your posh mates have sold off the NHS to faceless uncaring private firms?? Will he survive into adulthood, will he get the medicines that keep him alive? And then we are worrying about next April. How will we survive on half a wage with less tax credits and still no sleep, we are not alone and we are not going to be the worst affected by these cuts. Ordinary people make this country what it is, we are the cleaners the care takes, the shop assistants and the teachers, the doctors and the nurses, if you your party of uncaring over grown school boys break us all down till we have nothing left to give then this country will be in a bigger mess than it all ready is. We are the foundation on which this country is built we do the dirty jobs we get our hands dirty and work damn hard to survive. We need our NHS and people need a proper living wage and proper support in times of need, I can see no reasons other than greed and lack of empathy why people are going hungry in Britain. How can you understand what people need or deserve when you have never been in a position of need or desperation. Look beyond your prejudice ideas that the poor are lazy, we are poor because the government have no idea what a living wage is.
Live a day in our lives and gain some understanding of reality!!
Yours sincerely,
A very stressed and frustrated mum
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