I use a wheelchair and have to bum shuffle around my house after council house failures – I feel like a caged animal
A WHEELCHAIR-user has told how she has to “bum shuffle” around her home due to council house failures.
Danielle MacArthur feels like a “caged animal” in her two-storey home where she is forced to sleep on the sofa next to a portable toilet because she can’t climb the stairs.
The 27-year-old is unable to get up to her son’s first-floor bedroom and instead shuffles along the ground floor on her bum at the house in Kilsyth, North Lanarkshire.
Danielle has been paralysed since October 2019 after being diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder – an issue with the functioning of the nervous system.
The disorder affects how the brain and body send and receive signals and can lead to a host of physical, sensory and cognitive problems.
The mum has begged North Lanarkshire Council to move her to a property which doesn’t have stairs – but to no avail.
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She told The Daily Record: “I just don’t know where to turn anymore. My house is just not accessible at all.
“My doctors wrote to the council and told them that a property with stairs isn’t appropriate but they seem to have ignored them.
“I can only really get about my living room slightly and it’s by shuffling on my bum, pulling myself about with my hands.
“This is making the issues with my spine even worse.
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“I’m just trapped in this house all the time, like a caged animal.”
Danielle launched a disability discrimination lawsuit in court and the council was ordered to pay her £10,000 damages.
But she claims she still doesn’t have the money.
A spokesperson for North Lanarkshire Council said: “Arrangements are being made to pay the money owed in this civil court case and we apologise to Ms MacArthur for the delay.
“We have been working with our tenant for a number of years to try and resolve her accommodation needs.
“This included an offer of an alternative property and adaptations being made to suit her needs.
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“So far, we have been unable to agree a suitable long term solution.
“We are treating this as a priority and we will continue discussions with Ms MacArthur to mutually resolve this situation as soon as possible.”