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Coronavirus: 'Our children are all shut behind closed doors'
May 27, 2020
The coronavirus lockdown has placed additional pressure on many families. But what happens if you lose your work, your support network, and have a disabled child to care for?
"You know what? It's needs must," says Gail Bedding, from near Grayshott in Hampshire. "We needed to pay the bills, we needed to pay the mortgage - and suddenly there's no money coming in."
Gail's work has stopped - but there's another bigger factor dominating her life. She's the mother of a severely disabled 16-year-old son, Fergus, who is completely dependent on the care of his family.
He is in a wheelchair, non-verbal and fed through a tube.
Gail's husband Dave also found himself without work. But with the country in lockdown, the family needed to find a way to look after Fergus.
"We had to go out and find jobs. Dave went out and got a delivery job with Sainsbury's. I got a job stacking shelves for Sainsbury's.
"I've got 18-year-old twins. They both went out to get jobs. One's working in a care home and one's working in a garage with a shop attached to it."
The family rallied around in a collective effort to make sure that, even in a time of isolation, Fergus was never alone.
"We have to work out who is home, so he's not left on his own. We have to make sure one of us is in the house with him. It's a real juggling act for us," says Gail.
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