RADAR

Disability Organisations, Essentials No Responses »
Nov 172009

The Royal Association for Disability Rights

RADAR is a national network of disability organisations and disabled people.  In the main their members are other disability organisations although you can join as an individual.  They campaign for the rights of all disabled people and have lobbying access to Westminster and Whitehall.  They support the campaigns of their member organisations as well as creating their own.  They currently advertise a membership of over 800 disability organisations representing over 11 million disabled people in the UK.

What Can They Do For Me?

RADAR frequently pop up in the news but they are probably best known for their toilets!  RADAR administrate the National Key Scheme (NKS).  This is the scheme that encourages the use of a common key for all publicly available disabled toilets.  They provide the locks to anyone wishing to fit them and they sell keys to disabled people wanting to use the toilets.  In addition to this, they produce a regularly updated guide to all disabled toilets in the country with RADAR locks fitted.

RADAR Key

RADAR Key

As well as their keys, RADAR produce a number of publications that are of use to disabled people generally but specifically newly disabled people.

From personal experience, I must say that I found their guide “If Only I’d Known That A Year Ago…” extremely useful.  The guide is regularly updated (the current edition is 2009) and includes a lot of useful information and contact details.  Bought individually, it costs £12.60 including UK delivery.

In addition to “If Only I’d Known That A Year Ago…” RADAR produces a number of other publications:

  • Children First – Information on services for disabled children.
  • There and Back – A guide to travelling by Air, Road, Rail and Sea.
  • Get Motoring – A guide to buying and owning a car.
  • Get Mobile – A guide to buying a Scooter or Motorised Wheelchair.
  • Get Caravanning – Produced with help from the Caravan Club, this is a FREE guide to caravanning from a disabled person’s perspective.
  • Doing IT Differently – About Computers and IT.
  • Doing Money Differently – Managing money while living with ill-health, injury or disability.
  • Doing Work Differently – Getting and keeping a job whilst living with ill-health, injury or disability.

Individual Membership

RADAR publications and keys are available from the shop section on their website.  If you want in a key and one or more of their publications, it is worth considering their Individual Membership.  They give a key to all their members and make their publications available free of charge, you just have to ask for them.

Where To Find RADAR

radar_logo

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VAT Relief for Disabled People

Essentials No Responses »
Nov 142009

Zero Rate VAT

In very simple terms, if you are disabled or chronically sick, you do not have to pay VAT on anything you buy that is specifically designed to help you with you disability or anything that is adapted so that you can use it.  This also includes services you pay for to help with your disability and could include things like building work to adapt your home.

For this level of VAT relief you need to have either a long term, physical or mental condition that severely effects your ability to carry out everyday activities, a chronic sickness or be terminally ill.

Cars and Motor Vehicles

HM Revenue & Customs

Image by jam_90s via Flickr

It is also possible to buy a car or other motor vehicle at Zero Rate VAT.  In this case though, the rules are more strict.

To be eligible, you have use a stretcher or need a wheelchair to be mobile.  Please note that, at the moment, this does not include people who use an invalid buggy or scooter.  However, someone who has a degenerative condition and doesn’t use a wheelchair all the time may still qualify.

In addition to the above, the vehicle being bought must have a ‘substantial and permanent adaptation’.  This is where the rules get a little sketchy because an adaptation might be substantial to one person who could not use the vehicle without it but inconsequential to someone else.  However, I have found dealers are very accommodating and understanding.

Interestingly, if you by a vehicle free of VAT, the future maintenance of the vehicle is also free of VAT.

If you are looking for a new car, you should also consider the Motability Scheme.

Further Reference

Obviously I have only scratched the service.  For further reading, please try these websites:

Where Did You Get Help?

If you have bought products, services or vehicles VAT free, what was your experience?  Where did you get advice?  Is there a website that explained it all clearly?  Tell us in the comments!

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Can I Get A Blue Badge?

Essentials 2 Responses »
Nov 102009
Disabled badge holders only

Parking Concessions for People with Disabilities The Blue (Disabled) Badge Scheme offers holders of the card some parking concessions.  Unfortunately though, the rules vary somewhat from area to area within the UK.  This can make the scheme unnecessarily difficult to understand.  The advice I have to hand is printed by the Scottish Government but should hold [...]

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Disability Living Allowance

Essentials No Responses »
Nov 072009
Clipart Form

Can I Get DLA? The best starting place for advice on Disability Living Allowance is probably back to Direct.Gov.UK.  It gives you all the basic information about how to get a form, the current rates etc.  However, the whole process is renowned for being stressful, unfriendly and occasionally unfair.  Bare this in mind and you’ll probably [...]

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