DISABILITY INFORMATION HANDBOOK
Disability Information Handbook Contents
Chapter 1 - About Richmond AID 4
Chapter 2 – Social Services 7
Chapter 3 – Health Services and Support 11
Chapter 4 – Day Centres, Children’s Centres and Voluntary Care Groups 20
Chapter 5 – Children, Families and Carers 28
Chapter 6 – Advice, Legal Advice, Advocacy and Counselling 35
Chapter 7 – Self Directed Support 40
Chapter 8- Transport 42
Chapter 9 – Aids & Equipment 52
Chapter 10 – Leisure & Entertainment 57
Chapter 11 – Education, Employment and Volunteering 70
Chapter 12 – Benefits, Grants, Concessions and Debt 75
Chapter 13 – Homes, Housing & Homelessness 93
Chapter 14 – Computers and I.T. 103
Chapter 15 – Local Groups & Organisations 104
Chapter 16 – National Organisations 108
Index 114
Introduction
This Handbook gives lots of information about services available for disabled people, people with long-term and temporary health conditions and for carers, families and professionals.
As well as lots of guidance and contact information there are links (marked in blue and underlined) throughout this document. If you click on the links you will be taken to a web address, email or other parts of this Handbook.
This edition includes up-to-date information about social and health care services, benefits, aids and equipment, transport, housing, leisure and more. We list national and local disability groups and voluntary organisations for you to contact directly. If you can’t find what you are looking for from the contents page you can look in the index at the back for a full list of services.
Some of the services and benefits we tell you about may depend on you meeting certain conditions or criteria. We can’t always give every detail about these, so contact our advisors for more information. Call our Advice Service on 020 8831 6070 or email us at .
Information and contact details do change over time and if you find information here that is out of date, please contact us for current information and for us to correct this.
We would like to thank all our volunteers and staff who helped make this Handbook.
Chapter 1 - About Richmond AID
Richmond Advice and Information on Disability is an organisation formed and led by disabled people. Our vision is of a world without barriers, where disabled people have the same independence and choices as non-disabled people.
● The Social Model of Disability is important to us. This model shows that disability is created by barriers in society, including the physical environment and people’s attitudes and in how services are provided and accessed.
● Richmond AID’s Board of Trustees, staff and volunteers contain a high proportion of disabled people and people with a personal experience of disability and mental health issues.
● For over 20 years Richmond AID has provided specialist advice and information to support disabled people to achieve independence and equality.
Our services are for all disabled people including people with learning disabilities, physical and sensory disability and mental health issues. Here’s a list of the services and support we offer:
Advice Service: A telephone, web, email and drop-in service staffed by trained Advisors. It provides up-to-date information on your rights, benefits, employment, housing, education, access, transport, equipment, leisure and more. Our clients are disabled people, children and families, friends, carers and professionals. Our Advisors will give you the time you need to explore and resolve your issues or concerns.
Tel: 020 8831 6070 (Monday to Friday, 11am – 4pm)
Text/SMS: 07894 215 835
Address: Disability Action and Advice Centre, 4 Waldegrave Road, Teddington TW11 8HT. Parking is available.
Email:
Web: www.richmondaid.org.uk
Publications / Online Information: We publish a newsletter every 3 months, and many useful factsheets. We produce policy consultation responses, reports and this Handbook. Our website features all these and regularly updated news, events and a forum. You can find us on Twitter and Facebook where we publish up-to-the-minute news.
Benefits Service: Our expert Advisors give help face-to-face, by phone or email, with form-filling and advice on all aspects of benefit claims. This service is available by appointment.
Call 020 8831 6080 or email with any questions on benefits or to request an appointment.
Children and Families access service: We run the children and families access information service, which supports families with children with additional needs. We have a full-time Children and Families Information Coordinator and a part-time Children and Families Officer (Benefits) who provide advice and support to families. Contact the access service on 020 8831 6076 or email . For benefits advice, call Yvonne Baxtrem on 020 8831 6080 (Mon and Fri) or email .
Richmond Spade: A gardening service which Richmond AID runs with a team of volunteers. This project provides basic gardening services for disabled people. Call 020 8831 6415 or email for more information. Please leave a voicemail if you do not get through to our part-time Sspade Coordinator straight away.
Employment Project: We help disabled people into work, training or education. We have a weekly job club and give one-to-one advice and support. We work with businesses and employers and provide toolkits and training.
Call Jamie Cutler on 020 8831 6072 or email .
Community Involvement: Much of our work involves enabling local disabled people, carers and young people to have their voice heard. We gather information about local issues and priorities for consultations about local and national changes to services, benefits and policy changes and feed this information through many different channels.
Call Jamie Cutler on 020 8831 6072 or email .
Business Services: We have a range of Disability Awareness training which we provide to businesses. We have worked with large and small local businesses including Kew Gardens and Richmond Housing Partnership to supply training and access audits.
Call Jamie Cutler on 020 8831 6072 or email .
Disability Network: We provide support and information to voluntary agencies also working with people who have a disability. We advocate for this sector via a range of local, regional and national forums.
Call Lucy Byrne on 020 8831 6077 or email .
Volunteering: We have lots of volunteering opportunities from Advisors to Gardeners to newsletter writers. We provide training, mentoring and one to one support. Contact Alex Brining on 020 8831 6071 or email for volunteer vacancies.
Richmond AID is a Registered Charity, No. 1074788, and a Company Limited by Guarantee no. 3612476. We are affiliated to the National Association of Disability Information and Advice Lines (DIAL UK). Richmond AID has obtained DIAL UK’s Quality Standard, the Investors in People Quality Mark, and the Two Tick ‘Positive About Disability’ standard.
Our Patrons are Sir Trevor McDonald, Dr Vince Cable MP, Zac Goldsmith MP, Mat Fraser and Sir Donald Gosling. Our main funders are Hampton Fuel Allotment Charity, the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, the Trust for London, Aiming High, the City Bridge Trust, the Big Lottery, Richmond Parish Lands Charity, Barnes Workhouse Trust and Richmond and Twickenham Primary Care Trust.
Chapter 2 – Social Services
This chapter has information on Richmond Council’s Adult Community Services, Children's Services and other Social Services. They provide social care and help at home for disabled people, carers and families, including: occupational therapy, respite care, residential care, home adaptations and other services.
For information about day centres and social groups, see Chapter 4 – Day Centres, Children’s Centres and Voluntary Care Groups.
For other groups and services that support children and families, see Chapter 5 – Children, Families and Carers.
For more detailed information about social care options for adults, see Chapter 7 – Self Directed Support.
Social Care and Support Services
Access Team – the First Point of Contact for Adult Social Care
The Council’s ‘Access Team’ are the ‘front door’ service for people needing information and advice on social care in Richmond Borough. You can contact them for advice on what services and help are available
Assessment for Services:
If you think you may need some help or advice, contact the Access Team (contact information below). To use services available you will need to have an assessment of your needs. An assessment is a discussion to help the Access Team understand what help and support a person needs to manage their life on a day-to-day basis.
Assessments from the Access Team include:
· Equipment or adaptations – an assessment in your home could lead to you being provided equipment and adaptations that help you at home, such as rails or equipment to help you bathe, go to the toilet or get in and out of a bath.
· Sensory impairment advice and support – the Access Team can assess people with visual or hearing impairments and provide equipment, adaptations and technology that can help in daily life.
· Carer’s Assessment – If you care for an adult, a Carer's Assessment can be done either at the same time that the person you care for receives an assessment from the Access Team, or separately.
As a carer you may be able to get help with:
· Advice and information
· Emergency planning
· Financial support and advice
· Help around the home
· Introduction to support groups
· Respite Care
· Signposting to voluntary and health services
Care Contributions: How much will I have to pay?
There may be a charge (your ‘contribution’) for social care services and you will need to have a financial assessment to see if, or how much, you will have to pay towards your social care. You can follow the link above for more information and Richmond AID can help you complete your financial assessment. There is also an online calculator on the council website that gives you an estimate of what your contribution may be: follow this link.
Contact: Adult Social Services Access Team
Tel: 020 8891 7971
Text: 07507 512 733
Textphone:18001 020 8891 7971
Fax: 0800 014 8359
Out of hours: 020 8744 2442
Out of hours Minicom: 0845 600 7752
Out of hours Typetalk: 18001 020 8744 9414
Email:
British Sign Language (BSL) Interpreters
If you would like to access any services and your first or preferred language is British Sign Language, a BSL interpreter can be arranged, but advance notice is required.
Let your appropriate health and social care team know.
Health and Social Care Teams:
· Twickenham and Whitton:
Suite 2, 4th Floor, Regal House, London Road,
Twickenham TW1 3QB
Tel: 020 8891 7916
· Teddington and Hampton:
Teddington Centre, 18 Queen’s Road
Teddington TW11 0OR
Tel: 020 8614 5366
· East Sheen & Barnes; Richmond, Ham & Kew
1st Floor Centre House, Sheen Lane SW14 8LP
Tel: 020 8487 1691/1692
Specialist Teams
Children’s Services: Single Point of Access: ‘The first point of contact for all safeguarding issues into Children Services’.
Tel: 020 8891 7969
Emergency Duty Team 020 8744 2442 Email:
Disabled Children’s Service
Windham Croft Centre for Children, 16-20 Windham Road, Kew, TW9 2HP
Telephone: 020 8831 6470
Text: 020 8831 6049 Email:
Community Drug and Alcohol Team (CDAT)
Tel: 020 8772 5679
National Drugs Helpline (24hour) : 0800 77 66 00
Addiction Support & Care Agency (ASCA)
Tel: 020 8940 1160 Email:
Drug & Alcohol Information Service (DAIS)
Tel: 020 8891 0161
Learning Disabilities Team
Transition Social Worker, Specialist Health Team
Tel: 020 8487 5315 Email:
Transition Coordinator: Tel: 020 8891 7285
Mental Health
Richmond Royal Hospital Mental Health Centre
Tel: 0203 513 3200
(For more information on mental health support, see Chapter 3 ‘Health Services and Support’)
Reablement and Hospital Discharge Team
‘If your needs change and you’re unable to cope, the Reablement service provides planned, short term, intensive support to help you to regain your independence and function safely at home. Reablement could be in your own home, or in another residential setting, and provides mainly occupational therapy and social care.’
Tel: 020 8831 6041/6006
Web: www.richmond.gov.uk/support_for_unexpected_needs_reablement
Complaints
If you want to make a comment or have a complaint, contact:
Corporate Complaints Manager
Adult and Community Services, London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, 3rd Floor, Civic Centre, 44 York Street, Twickenham, TW1 3BZ
Tel: 020 8891 7937
Email
Once you have followed the complaints process, if you are not satisfied you can then contact the Local Government Ombudsman. For advice or to make a complaint, contact:
Local Government Ombudsman Advice Team on 0300 061 0614 or 0845 602 1983.
Chapter 3 – Health Services and Support
This chapter gives information about GPs, dentists and hospitals, other health services and support and how to make a complaint.
Primary Care
General Practitioners (GPs)
For a list of doctors’ surgeries contact:
The Primary Care Support Service,
187 Ewell Road, Surbiton, KT6 6AU
Tel: 020 8335 1400
or search the directory at The NHS Choices: www.nhs.uk
NHS Dentists
Details from the Primary Care Support Service (see above) or search at www.nhs.uk.
This listing also includes details on access.
The Community Dental Service (CDS) caters for people with disabilities who cannot get to a dentist. Tel: 020 8546 7711 Ext. 2349
NHS Direct
This service gives you useful information on all areas of health. It is staffed by qualified nurses and can sometimes reassure and save you a trip to your GP.
It also has a very useful website for information and advice.
Tel: 0845 46 47 – open 24 hours Web: www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk
Carers Direct
Information, advice and support for carers.
Tel: 0808 802 0202 Web: www.carersdirectenquiry.nhs.uk
Hospital Services
Accident and Emergency