Shed ramp would make a difference (From Witney Gazette)

Shed ramp would make a difference

12:23pm Thursday 23rd February 2006 in Witney By Maddy Biddulph

A WOMAN with a debilitating illness claims she is housebound because her landlord has refused to install a ramp into the shed where she stores her invalid buggy.

Sharon Murrant, 36, pictured, who has fibromyalgia a musculoskeletal pain and fatigue disorder relies on the motorised scooter to get around.

The mother-of-two, who lives alone in Maple Way, Ascott-under-Wychwood, said she depended on a friend's son to lift the buggy out of the shed when she needed it.

It has meant she is not able to regularly visit her children, Jasmin Harris, 14, and Daisy Harris, 12, who live in Long Hanborough with her first ex-husband.

Mrs Murrant, who can only walk about 400 yards with a stick 'on a good day', said she had been asking Cottsway Housing Association for a ramp for about 18 months.

She said: "My illness is not always visible, but at times, it can be totally debilitating.

"I'm lucky if I can see my children once a fortnight."

Sharon Murrant, 36

"When I first moved in, Cottsway said someone would come out to have a look at the shed, which they did.

"I thought it would all go through, no problem, but it didn't happen. I've been given every excuse under the sun. I am at my wits end."

Mrs Murrant, who moved from Deer Park, Witney, to Maple Way in July 2004, said her mother, Jacquelynne Oliver, bought the invalid buggy to give her more independence.

But she said: "I have only been out in it four times in 18 months, as I can't get it out. Cottsway have put me in a worse position by isolating me from my family.

"I'm lucky if I can see my children once a fortnight."

Ken Alcraft, asset manager of Cottsway, said the company would not be installing a ramp.

He said: "We are allocated money every year for adaptations to houses for disabled people, and we spend about a quarter of a million pounds on work.

"But Mrs Murrant's occupational therapist did an assessment, and could not support the ramp, as it was not a necessity. And it was her choice to buy the scooter. If they can't support it, we can't support it."

Sandra Stapley, operations manager of Oxfordshire County Council, which supplies occupational therapists, said she sympathised with Mrs Murrant.

But she said: "She was not given her buggy following an assessment of clinical need, and is mobile around her house.

"All local authorities have limited funds, and therefore have to set a criteria to judge whether individual cases are needy enough for a ramp to be installed.

"There are many people who rely far more heavily on wheelchairs, who have a greater need."

Sue Pratt, a Disability Rights Commission (DRC) spokesman, criticised Cottsway and the county council for their decision.

She said: "It is a situation which causes us real concern. This is about her mobility needs, which are being completely overlooked."