I’ve had independence dangled over me then snatched away. It feels that, as a disabled person, I will never be allowed independence
ISABELLE ATKINS
Isabelle Atkins is 26 years old and wants to move out of her parents’ house – nothing remarkable about that. But because she is disabled, it is near impossible. Her council assumes she can live with her parents indefinitely, so she has plummeted down the social housing list. And there are next to no affordable, accessible homes for private renters.
Atkins, who is a wheelchair user, watched her peers leave home for university while she stayed in her childhood home. She graduated with a master’s degree and works for a charity, but has spent the last six months struggling with house hunting, while despairing at a broken system.
“People don’t give a shit,” she says. “People don’t realise that anybody can be affected by disability. All of a sudden, you could be stuck in a house that is confining you to potentially one or two rooms. Before I had adaptations in my parents’ house, I would either have
