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.
Descriptive transcript
We see a wheelchair close up, Rosey’s name is printed onto the wheel with a picture of a blue rose.
Yvette: Because Rosey is a non-mobile child, she can’t self-regulate her temperature. It’s up to me to monitor and adjust accordingly.
Yvette is putting Rosey’s slippers on, tightening the Velcro strap. She places Rosey’s foot back on the footrest and give her knee a little affectionate squeeze.
We see Rosey sitting in her wheelchair. She’s in her early twenties and has brown curly hair. She’s in the living room and Yvette, who’s in her mid-forties with purple hair and pink lipstick, is on the floor in front of her, looking up at her daughter.
We then see Yvette sitting on the sofa, talking to camera.
Yvette: 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 and maybe put, you know more slippers on her, a blanket to make sure that she’s not cold.
Yvette reached out a hand to feel and adjusts the temperature of a wall radiator, touching it again to make sure it’s warm.
Rosey is in her bedroom. Her mum is tucking a blanket onto her lap.
We see the heating thermostat showing that the heating is set to come on a 6am.
Yvette: The heating goes on with Rosey about six o’clock in the morning. I get her up at seven, so the house is warm.
We see Rosey being collected for college by a member of staff. She’s wheeled outside and her mum stands at the door behind her.
We see the thermostat; Yvette is turning the heating off.
Yvette: 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, twenty minutes before she comes home.
In Yvette’s sister’s home, we see the two women sitting in the front room. They’re chatting on the sofa over hot drinks.
Yvette: I go to my sister’s; her house is warm. So yeah, 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 an evening and at weekends.
We see Rosey lying on cushions on floor of her room, surrounded by fibre optic light tubes and other sensory toys. Rosey and her mum are playing with the lights and with ribbons, sequined material and shiny pom-poms. Yvette runs them across Rosey’s hands and lifts them before her face to see.
Yvette: Rosey and I have a fantastic bond. She’s a very social young lady. We love being out and about – walks, the beach… I even took her into the sea this year with a beach wheelchair.
Yvette is sitting on the sofa, talking to camera.
Yvette: She’s my absolute world. Yeah, my absolute world. She’s an absolute delight and it’s a great privilege and an honour to be, I suppose that responsible for her and giving her the best life.
We see a wall radiator in the corner of a room, and another nearby to where Rosey is playing with the lights.
Yvette: We’ve always been very careful with the cost of living, but now the heating has doubled, I don’t know how I’m going to cope this winter.
Yvette is sitting on her sofa in a dark living room, looking out of the window. She talks to camera again. Then we see lots of framed photographs of Rosey as a little girl.
Yvette: Well, it impacts 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 and I want to make that count. And I want her to have the best lift and not for me to worry about if we can heat the house or not. We need to be making memories here.
In the hallway, we see a radiator with a wooden cover. Resting on top of this is a large multi-photo frame. It’s filled with pictures of Rosey and the family. In the middle of the frame is the word ‘memories’.
The screen fades to white. Text appears on the screen:
Families like Yvette’s need more support. Act now. Sense.org.uk/CostOfLiving
The is replaced with two dots. Orange on the left and purple on the right. The dots spin around the screen then comes together in the centre, forming two hands with the letter S in the middle. This is the Sense logo. Text appears below the logo.
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.