It seems disabled people, and indeed anyone who is at all unwell, no longer have parents, spouses, children or even friends but just carers. If you watch programmes like Casualty they now ask every patient who they primary carer is. While family and friends can be wrong and have they own motives, carers are perceived to always be right because they are assumed to have your best interests at hearted. Carers are allowed to make decisions on behalf of their ‘loved ones’, a term I find so scary and offensive, without anyone battering an eyelid as the loved one is turned into their voiceless object of burden and pity.

The acceptance of dependency and carer culture must end since we must be families as units of interdependency that work together or should be enabled to work together, not divided by the middle class charities who force the notion of carers onto families for their own obsessive motives. We must all be valued what who are we, what we contributed and how we all support each other.

If you like what I say, have a look at my site at www.simonstevens.com or follow me on twitter, @simonstevens74, or even leave me feedback on +44 (0)121 364 1974 or email simon@simonstevens.com