Claire Morgan 22/03/2023 Member Stories

I’ve been back and forth to Cardiff three times in the past three weeks and I’ll be back there again at the weekend!  I went to Dragma’s 80^th Birthday Party with the House of Deviant a couple of weeks ago.  Then last Friday I went to the Live Lounge with Gig Buddies for St Patrick’s Day.  It was great because Kirsty Crawford was performing – she’s part of Electric Umbrella which was such a wonderful resource during the pandemic and it was fab to meet her in person.

I went to the Mencap Conference earlier this week and caught up with lots of colleagues and I’m back in Cardiff this weekend for a friend’s 40^th birthday.  Transport has been a bit difficult to sort out for this last trip, as I needed to come back on Monday for a meeting, but there are no trains so I have to stay in Cardiff until Tuesday.

I’ve been managing ok with the cost of living so far, but I think after this last trip to Cardiff I need to think about saving up for a while.  The government will be stopping the support towards our utility bills and once that stops, I will definitely need to be more careful with spending.  I’ve booked my place for AdFest in the summer though! I think I was the first one to pay for my place!

Last time we spoke I was still having chest pains, but these have stopped now and – apart from having a tooth out the other day – I feel quite good and happy.

I’m still working at the restaurant on a part time basis and I’m still a trustee of Pembrokeshire People First and co Chair of the Learning Disability Ministerial Advisory Group (LDMAG). 

Pembrokeshire People First have been looking into the difficulties people with learning disabilities are facing with their bus passes.  At the moment, if you want to get or renew a bus pass, you have to prove you are eligible and if you don’t have the correct mobility component on your PIP you need to get a letter from the GP.  I’m going through this at the moment; it can be quite complicated.

I’ve also been supporting Mencap’s petition to Welsh Government to ask them to ensure that vulnerable adults without bank cards can pay with cash because some adults with learning disabilities cannot have access to a bank card.