A double-jabbed man with disabilities has been told he is 'banned from the job he loves' because he is a Covid risk.
Max Snell, 29, used to volunteer at Mires Beck Nursery in North Cave, a plant nursery that also provides horticultural training for people with disabilities.
But, he has been told he cannot return because he lives under East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s Independent Supported Living (ISL), Hull Live reports.
Supported living accommodation is a term for a range of services that allow an individual with care needs to live independently while also being supported by care staff.
This can be either by living alone or with a room mate, but is different to a care home in that they live in their own homes.
But, his mother Helen Kilvington has said that Max, and the other volunteers who live in supported housing including his friend Bryce, 28, were told they will not be able to return.
This came as a shock to them as Max is fully vaccinated and Covid restrictions have been lifted with the rest of the country returning to almost complete normality.
Parents of the volunteers who have been told not to return feel that this new rule is “unfair” and even “discriminatory”, and they are struggling to understand the rationale behind the decision.
Max was left profoundly deaf and brain damaged after contracting meningitis as a child.
Mum Helen describe Max as a “happy chap” who loves gardening at Mires Beck, which he considers to be his job, and explains that the decision not to allow him back as left him devastated.
Speaking on the situation, she said: “It makes no sense why he can’t go back to his job.
“The council is not allowing them to go back because they’re considered more likely to spread Covid if they’re in communal accommodation, while service users who live with their parents are.
“The council also assumes they don’t need their jobs at Mires Beck as much if they have support on-hand, but a middle-aged carer can’t offer what the nursery can.
“It’s like they’ve been retired at 29 and he doesn’t know what to do with himself.
“All I’ve ever done in Max’s life is battle for the next thing - that’s all you do when you have a disabled child. You fight for them because they can’t always fight for themselves.”
Another mum, whose disabled daughter also lives in an ISL and has been told she can’t return to work at Mires Beck, said her requests to the council for more clarity on the situation had gone largely ‘unanswered’,
She said that the decision to not allow some disabled people back felt like “discrimination”.
“Why are these young people being treated so differently?” said the mum, who did not want to be named.
“Right now, my daughter could go to the pub and rub shoulders with others without a mask, but she can’t go to her job which is mainly outdoors."
The Mirror has contacted East Riding Council and Mires Beck Nursery for a comment.
