How Does the Cost-of-Living Crisis Impact on Disabled People?

I’ve always hated the fact that disability costs so much! I know some people have Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independence Payment (PIP) to help with the costs but if you do any research into disability aids you’d swear that someone had thought of a number and tripled it!

Everything seems to cost more. If you already have to pay for your prescriptions, electric to charge your wheelchair or for carers to come in to help then most of your ‘Extra Help’ is already accounted for so to add to that you then have to pay the extra electricity costs to run hoists, beds, breathing equipment, powered chairs and monitors that were already expensive people are obviously going to struggle. These are not optional extras that can be cut back. This is vital, often life-saving, equipment.

Young man using a hoist to transfer from bed

Some people are unable to cut back any more and are having to make the choice between charging their wheelchair or eating a meal

A recent survey by Purple (https://purpletuesday.co/About-Us/Press-Release) found 68% of disabled people believing they have been or will be more severely impacted by the cost-of-living crisis than those who don’t have a disability.