By Simon Sansome
Deciding on where you are going to live can impact every stage of your life. There are thousands of different options to choose from including shared accommodation, student living, a bungalow, semi-detached or a flat in the city centre, the choices are endless if you are fully abled.
The implication on where you live will impact on your family, your children, their education and the community you will eventually bond with, it is one of the most important decisions you will ever make.
Most people will visit and view several different properties to rent before deciding and putting down a deposit, but what sort of accommodation is available on the private market for people with disabilities, who need an adapted home.
Ability Access wanted to find out how difficult it is for people with disabilities to rent accommodation in Leicester.
To do this we contacted dozens of private estate agents in Leicester to see if they had any adapted accommodation. The results may surprise many.
Following this investigation and many estate agents getting back to us there is not one single adapted property for rental in the Leicester area, on the private market, for people with disabilities.
This means people with disabilities do not have the same choices as people who are fully mobile do. This means a person with a disability cannot rent where they like, they cannot have the freedom like everyone else does and they will have to rely on housing associations or the council to provide them with suitable accommodation, which most of the time is not in the place they want to live.
Having spoken to one estate agent they said they have never seen a private adapted property on the rental market in 10 years.
More needs to be done in the private rental market so that people with disabilities can have the same choices and freedoms of people who are able to live in an un-adapted property.
Ability Access 