I just want to give my daughter the best life, without worrying about rising bills
Yvette is a full-time carer to her daughter Rosey, 24. They live in Norwich. Rosey has cerebral palsy, scoliosis and epilepsy, and is also blind.
In a new short film, Yvette told Sense about how the cost of living crisis is impacting her life with her daughter. Keep reading to find out more about Yvette’s story, read the full video transcript or watch the video.
We have to use more electricity than the average household
Because Rosey’s a non-mobile child, she cannot self-regulate her temperature. It’s up to me to monitor and adjust accordingly. That’s been her whole life, all day every day.
If it’s too hot, then we have to try and cool her down. And obviously now we’re coming into winter, we have to put the heating on, maybe put more slippers on her, a blanket, to make sure that she’s not cold.
When Rosey goes to bed, I have two CCTVs on, one to monitor her for seizures and her breathing, and one which has the temperature on. I have to keep a constant eye on those. Obviously, those are powered by electricity.
The heating goes on with Rosey about six o’ clock in the morning. I get her up at seven so the house is warm. She leaves for college about nine o’ clock, and the heating goes off then. It doesn’t come back on until four o’ clock in the afternoon, 20 minutes before she comes home.
I go to my sister’s during the day. Her house is warm, so I just go and spend the day there. There’s no point sitting here in a cold house.
I’ve got to try and save as much electricity as I can, so that I can have it on for Rosey on evenings and at weekends.
The cost of living is weighing on my mind
We’ve always been very careful with the cost of living, but now the cost of heating has doubled, I don’t know how I’m going to cope this winter. It was bad enough last winter.
My energy bill has doubled. So the £150 payment from the government will support us for one month, and we haven’t even got to the coldest months yet.
I strongly believe the most vulnerable, who have no choice, should be helped financially. The government has a duty of care.
Now it’s autumn, and obviously the heat has had to go on, as temperatures have dropped. It’s sent parents like me into panic mode, because we don’t have any more money.
I strongly believe the most vulnerable, who have no choice, should be helped financially. The government has a duty of care.
The cost of living crisis impacts us massively, because as Rosey’s carer, I want her to have the best life. She’s an end-of-life young lady, so every day is a bonus. I want to make that count.
I want her to have the best life, and not for me to worry about whether we can heat the house or not. We need to be making memories here.
Rosey is my priority and my world
Rosey and I have a fantastic bond. She’s a very social young lady. We love being out and about, going on walks.
I even took her into the sea this year, with a beach wheelchair. We go dancing, and to the cinema. She loves the theatre.
We love all of those things. We have a great time together. She’s my absolute world.
She’s an absolute delight, and it’s a great privilege and an honour to be responsible for giving her the best life.