THE lives of many carers in Northern Ireland have become worse since Stormont’s return, a Co Down mother has said.
Barbara Morrow (45) from Ballyhalbert spoke to The Irish News as she prepares for Christmas, which she said can bring a lot of stress for the family.
Her children Zachary (11) and Scarlett (9) both have autism, with Zachary also living with a lifelong bowel disease which severely restricts what he is able to eat.
Having chosen to leave a successful career in the civil service, Barbara had previously spoken last year when Stormont was collapsed about how she was happy to care for her children but felt the odds were stacked against her.
With a functioning Executive in place, she said the financial pressure on the family has not improved.
“The children are both looking forward to Christmas and the magic of Santa is still alive in our house,” she said.
“There is pressure though, particularly with my son’s eating issues. He has a very limited diet, essentially only two meals he will eat.
“That means Christmas looks very different in our house. It’s been like that for most of his life.”
This includes only being able to purchase the ingredients from three different shops.
“When you live in an isolated area on the Ards peninsula like I do, it takes a lot of time to get round them. That brings extra travel costs and I’ll need to buy ten meals as I can’t risk running out.”
She added: “But really it’s the financial side of things, managing expectations around presents and even a Christmas dinner for my husband and I is really difficult.
“You think ‘maybe next year will get better’ but I feel it just gets worse. I suppose that’s how many families are feeling as inflation is rising.”
Not qualifying for respite care, Barbara is self-employed but her carer’s allowance (which she estimates is worth £3 an hour) is cut off if she earns more than £151 a week.
“Families like mine keep falling back and back. I don’t see any progress from Stormont or London,” she said.
“There was a small concession made to working carers that they would get up to five days of unpaid leave a year – but ‘big wow’ I say to that, how is that a good deal?
“My husband and I are co-parenting, but there’s so many out there that are single or elderly carers and have lost hope.
“I feel angry as well because nothing of substance for carers. Sometimes when people like me speak up in the media there’s negativity directed back towards us too.
“People seem to assume we have DLA cars and get loads of benefits for sitting on your bum at home doing nothing.
“But my car is 10-years-old and needs repaired. There’s a stigma against anyone who accesses social help and the public are very polarised.
“The government will tell you how wonderful you are, but they won’t do anything to help.”
On refusing to accept the status quo, she said: “If someone reads this and thinks ‘I’m not actually alone in this’ then maybe it will be worth it, because a lot of people can feel very lonely this Christmas – it’s not all merry and bright and spending money on champagne.
“That is really hard for people who are quite isolated from society.”