I am a carer for my daughter. After hearing about Carers Leeds I went to their office for support. Shuria arranged to come and visit me at my home to discuss my support. I was happy to see her as before this I had no proper support. My worker introduced me to a volunteer at Touchstone who provided language support for us to communicate better; this was very helpful.
Shuria supported me to appeal a Disability Living Allowance decision and prepare for a tribunal hearing. Prior to Shuria’s support I have been battling to appeal the decision for a year without luck! With support I was able to attend the tribunal hearing which was successful and I was awarded backdated payments. After the tribunal decision I needed a lot of support to contact agencies to inform them of changes which I could not have done without my support worker.
The Job Centre was unsupportive of my situation, causing me a lot of anxiety and stress even crying at times after meetings. With support from Shuria I was able to face them to inform them of changes as a result of the tribunal. I remember saying to my worker as I left the Job Centre, “I never want to see this place again”.
I would like to thank Shuria for her support. In the future I would like to be able to provide support to others in their time of need like my support worker did for me. Thank you Touchstone.
Touchstone Annual Review 2015-2016
