Mik Scarlet

DISABLED people more susceptible to the ill effects of falling temperatures are facing a dangerous winter as bills go up.

Disability campaigner Mik Scarlet, who has recently been appointed as the co-CEO of disability charity Phab, said: “Many of us are wary about getting cold because some disabled people don’t have proper sensation or feeling in part of their bodies, which means they don’t notice when their temperature drops.

“In turn that affects your core temperature, and when you’re really cold and start to go hypothermic you can become euphoric, so you don’t notice.”

Mr Scarlet, 57, who lives in Camden Town, said: “We are told always make sure you keep your heating on in the winter for the sake of your health, but there will be people for who £10 makes a lot of a difference, let alone the £20-£30 or even more than that by which the cost of their shopping is going up, or their heating bills.

“I worry that I will end up in a situation where I’m having to go to funerals again of friends, of people I know, because they are disabled and have died because they can’t afford the apparent ‘luxury’ of buying good food, or heating their homes and they can’t leave their homes either.”

Mr Scarlet pointed to research from Scope which says that disabled people already face extra costs of £580 a month on average. This includes for medication, special dietary food, transport, or mobility equipment like wheelchairs.

“This is the issue, we are always a group that is already expected to just cough up for it,” he said. “I’m lucky that I am able to work, but there are lots of people who are disabled who are not able to, or who might have children with serious disabilities.

“Their payments haven’t gone up, but they have not got a choice about what they will do. If their child is on an oxygen machine, you can’t just switch that off to save electricity can you?”

Mr Scarlet added: “There should be a minister for disabled people who know what do people want and need, and who stands up for people in the disabled community. There needs to be a real engagement with the disabled community, because it feels like the government does not know what we want or need, and it’s critical that people get it.

“At times of crisis it’s often people at the bottom who get hit hardest, and disabled people are in that bracket where we need help the most.”