Dialability is vital to clients and professionals

From the The Oxford Times, first published Thursday 28th Aug 2008.

Dialability is a charity that is well known to people with disabilities in Oxfordshire. Healthcare professionals and relatives and carers are also familiar with this unique organisation.

Dialability has been working in Oxford for 26 years, so that anyone suddenly faced with a disablement, living with a long-term condition, or simply getting old can obtain solutions to help them with their daily living. Most people come to Oxford for diagnosis and treatment and soon discover Dialability.

Healthcare professionals do not have the time or resources to know about all the products and benefits that are available, but with Dialability's help they can obtain the latest information for their patients.

Dialability provides an impartial information service by training and employing volunteers who have a disability to staff the advice line, carry out research and update leaflets and fact sheets.

The service also provides extensive resources to help clients. These cover every conceivable subject, including cooking, eating, bathing, dressing, mobility scooters, wheelchairs, specialist beds and chairs, stair lifts, holidays, benefits and support groups.

As many volunteers live with a disability themselves, they are able to offer help based on their own experience. They also meet with clients to advise about the benefits they may be entitled to and help to fill in forms for Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance and the Motability Allowance Scheme.

One volunteer said: "Dialability turned my life around. It helped me, so I wanted to give something back."

One client, Julia Denzil-Simpson, said: "I have been using Dialability for many years. Before I was disabled, I cared for my mother, who was housebound, and they helped to make her life easier by giving us so much valuable advice."

The 62 factsheets about the products that ease daily living for people with disabilities are also available on the website and offer information about equipment, suppliers, funding and services.

There's a For Sale notice board, Wise Buy' guides, and an online message forum called Adam's Voice, where topics such as stroke recovery, or equipment that changed my life' by a chronic rheumatoid arthritis sufferer are discussed. Go to http://www.dialability.org.uk Earlier this year Dialability had to close its demonstration rooms at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre but the charity is determined to maintain its information service. It employs three members of staff and nine volunteers, all of whom are committed to its future but more money is urgently needed to help with the costs. With no statutory funding, donations and business sponsorship are vital.

If you can help, or if your business would like to be associated with Dialability, please contact Toby Benn, information manager, for more details on 08456 251251 or email: toby.benn@dialability.org.uk

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