Mr. Brian Dalton:

Disabled people need to be at the heart of this. The political leaders need to be driving this system. To go back to a point we made earlier, the distinction between home care and a personal assistant is massive, and that is not understood by the wider world or wider community. A PA acts for me as my eyes, arms and legs. That is effectively what a PA is. I decide what I would like to do and when I would like to do it. I provide the direction and the PA carries out the physical actions as per my instructions. They would help me in all aspects of life inside my home to enable me to be a dad to my two children, do my work, hold down a full-time job, play a part in my community and engage in various social activities. A campaign needs to be run on what PAs do and the important role they play in allowing disabled people to live independently so they are not trapped in nursing homes and in their own homes. The campaign needs to highlight that they can play a genuine part in society if the right support is available. When I send out advertisements for jobs and refer to a PA, most people think I am referring to an office worker. They do not understand what the role is. It is a unique role. Once I explain to people what it is, there is a lot of interest in it. We need to capture that emotion and interest and use it to the advantage of building an inclusive system.