Transcript

Don

Hello Lyn, it's Don from VEST. How are you? All right?

Maria Williams

Hello.

Lyn Smith

Hiya. How are you? Nice to see you, Don

Don

And you, sweetheart. And you.

Lyn Smith

Yeah, I haven't seen you for a while.

Don

A couple of weeks.

Lyn Smith

Yeah.

Don

They're keeping us apart.

Lyn Smith

Yeah, that's it, because we have such a laugh when we're together.

Don

Indeed, we do.

Lyn Smith

Yeah.

[WHIRRING]

Maria Williams

Right, now then, let's have a look.

Lyn Smith

Oh, Maria's brilliant. She's very good. She's good company and she knows what she's doing.

She never rushes you, and she's always so - well, she's so jolly. And there's never enough that she won't do for you. She's so kind.

I think what I might do - I might try getting the still ones - the orange and peach. We've still got to find out where the air freshener is - and the milk. I can't find it now.

Maria Williams

I think it's down the other end, isn't it, Lyn?

Lyn Smith

Down that end?

Maria Williams

I think so.

Lyn Smith

Right.

I'm a free agent. I may be disabled, but I know exactly what I want. And I don't let anybody tell me what I've got to do or what I've got to buy. It's always up to me.

And all my carers know that, and they treat me as a human individual. They don't treat me as somebody with a disability.

And that's the other thing I like about Somebody Cares - you're not treated any different from anybody else.

[REGISTER BEEPING]

Lyn Smith

Right.

Cashier

Would you like some help with your packing?

Lyn Smith

Um, do we want help?

Maria Williams

Yeah.

Lyn Smith

Yes, please.

Cashier

Ok.

Maria Williams

Do you want to go down a bit further, Lyn?

Lyn Smith

In the mornings it's funded by the Social Services, but in the afternoons I get the Independent Living Fund.

And they fund most of it, but I have to fund for some of it myself, as well. I pay 75 pounds a week towards my afternoon care.

She's not a friend, she's a carer. That's the difference, because with a friend, you meet, and you go out, and you socialise after hours.

With Maria, everything's done within the hours, if you know what I mean. There's no - we're not allowed to communicate with them after work and stuff like that, so we don't.

Maria Williams

There we are.

Lyn Smith

Right, ok.

Maria Williams

You ok?

Lyn Smith

Yeah. Thank you.

Maria Williams

You keep everything professional. And everything is done, then, obviously by the book - even though with Lyn, you can have a laugh and a joke, and - it's a nice atmosphere.

Lyn Smith

As long as you've got the right agency and you've got the right carers, then you're all right.

And I - touch wood - I'm very, very lucky I've been able to manage with my own life.

And with the support of the carers, I've done really well.