Paul Rutherford, grandfather to Warren Todd, a 14-year-old boy with a rare genetic disorder, knows that David Cameron must have an inkling of what his family goes through every day.
Warren is one of only 100 known cases of Potocki-Shaffer syndrome in the world. The condition affects every single part of his life.
Like David and Samantha Cameron’s son, Ivan , who died at the age of six in 2009, he needs round-the-clock care. Ivan lived with cerebral palsy and a rare and severe form of epilepsy known as Ohtahara syndrome.
Warren also has epilepsy, added to severe learning disabilities and skeletal problems.
His grandparents Paul and Sue can only imagine the pain the Camerons went through when they lost their “beautiful boy”.
That’s why they make their offer carefully and without malice.
“We want to ask David Cameron to come to our home and visit our family,” Paul, 56, says. “We think if he could see how we live and what we do, and meet Warren, he would change his mind about the Bedroom Tax.”
Last week, Paul and Sue lost a case in the High Court against David Cameron’s tax . It means they will have to continue to pay.
On May 14, I went to court with the family to watch Rutherford v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. It summed up what the Bedroom Tax is and does – a legislative juggernaut shattering lives in its wake.
On the left side of Court 27 at the Royal Courts of Justice, sat Paul and Sue, two disabled people who themselves care for a disabled boy, supported by the Child Poverty Action Group. The journey from West Wales had taken them hours and they had to leave Warren in respite care. On the right, an army of Department for Work and Pensions barristers, civil servants and press officers.
Paul Rutherford, attached to oxygen for a severe lung condition, frequently had to turn up the supply from the box in his bag.
The Prime Minister has claimed on several occasions that disabled people are exempt from the Bedroom Tax – but if this were the case the Rutherfords would never have been in court.
“It’s just not true,” says Paul, from Clynderwen, Pembrokeshire. “In our case and in very many others. If he comes to our home he will be able to see that for himself.”
In fact, there are only two very narrow exceptions for disabled people – for some children who cannot share with siblings and for some adults who need a room for overnight carers.
But despite a public letter from the heads of 18 charities from the RNIB to Mencap, the Prime Minister has never corrected his mistake.
Read more...
Warren is one of only 100 known cases of Potocki-Shaffer syndrome in the world. The condition affects every single part of his life.
Like David and Samantha Cameron’s son, Ivan , who died at the age of six in 2009, he needs round-the-clock care. Ivan lived with cerebral palsy and a rare and severe form of epilepsy known as Ohtahara syndrome.
Warren also has epilepsy, added to severe learning disabilities and skeletal problems.
His grandparents Paul and Sue can only imagine the pain the Camerons went through when they lost their “beautiful boy”.
That’s why they make their offer carefully and without malice.
“We want to ask David Cameron to come to our home and visit our family,” Paul, 56, says. “We think if he could see how we live and what we do, and meet Warren, he would change his mind about the Bedroom Tax.”
Last week, Paul and Sue lost a case in the High Court against David Cameron’s tax . It means they will have to continue to pay.
On May 14, I went to court with the family to watch Rutherford v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. It summed up what the Bedroom Tax is and does – a legislative juggernaut shattering lives in its wake.
On the left side of Court 27 at the Royal Courts of Justice, sat Paul and Sue, two disabled people who themselves care for a disabled boy, supported by the Child Poverty Action Group. The journey from West Wales had taken them hours and they had to leave Warren in respite care. On the right, an army of Department for Work and Pensions barristers, civil servants and press officers.
Paul Rutherford, attached to oxygen for a severe lung condition, frequently had to turn up the supply from the box in his bag.
The Prime Minister has claimed on several occasions that disabled people are exempt from the Bedroom Tax – but if this were the case the Rutherfords would never have been in court.
“It’s just not true,” says Paul, from Clynderwen, Pembrokeshire. “In our case and in very many others. If he comes to our home he will be able to see that for himself.”
In fact, there are only two very narrow exceptions for disabled people – for some children who cannot share with siblings and for some adults who need a room for overnight carers.
But despite a public letter from the heads of 18 charities from the RNIB to Mencap, the Prime Minister has never corrected his mistake.
Read more...
