Need some advice on a unique situation...

I'm a 23 yr old American currently living in Boston, USA.
I have in the past 6 months been researching heavily on moving to London. I realize most of the normal immigration issues, but the big catch is that i'm a permanent wheelchair user. I didn't know if anyone knew about insurance covering durable hardware a.k.a. wheelchair repairs/replacement and/or if anyone knew anyone I could possibly contact about wheelchair accessible/adapted flats in London?

Hi Felicias, you're right it's a question that doesn't come up very often. We do have a couple of regular members who are wheelchair users so I'm sure you'll get a response from them fairly soon. In the meantime there's some useful info & links here:

http://www.talkingcities.co.uk/london_pages/essentials_df.htm

Hi Felicias,

I would say that as I assume you are not a British citizen, you would likely be ineligible for any adapted housing which is generally provided through local authorities (like municipalities) or anything related to 'public funds'. Accessible housing is a major issue is the UK for many disabled people.

This may be of interest:

http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/strategies/sds/bpg-wheelchair-acc-housing.jsp

Perhaps you might wish to consider holidaying first in the UK. The following links will be able to help you find information on accessible places to go / stay and will give you an idea of environmental barriers here:

http://www.disabledgo.info/

Local DIALs should be able to provide information about where to go for wheelchair repair to pay privately, but as far as insurance, I have no idea!
 
http://www.dialuk.info/

One other option may be for you to come here to study, as if you were a student, I *think* you would be eligible for some level of support, like possibly housing, AFAIK:

http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/about/disability.php
 
Other good links:
http://www.disabilityinformation.com/
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/index.htm

Best of luck!

Hi Felicias,

I would say that as I assume you are not a British citizen, you would likely be ineligible for any adapted housing which is generally provided through local authorities (like municipalities) or anything related to 'public funds'. Accessible housing is a major issue is the UK for many disabled people.

This may be of interest:

newcomer link: http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/strategies/sds/bpg-wheelchair-acc-housing.jsp [nonactive]

Perhaps you might wish to consider holidaying first in the UK. The following links will be able to help you find information on accessible places to go / stay and will give you an idea of environmental barriers here:

newcomer link: http://www.disabledgo.info/ [nonactive]

Local DIALs should be able to provide information about where to go for wheelchair repair to pay privately, but as far as insurance, I have no idea!
 
newcomer link: http://www.dialuk.info/ [nonactive]

One other option may be for you to come here to study, as if you were a student, I *think* you would be eligible for some level of support, like possibly housing, AFAIK:

newcomer link: http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/about/disability.php [nonactive]
 
Other good links:
newcomer link: http://www.disabilityinformation.com/ [nonactive]
newcomer link: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/index.htm [nonactive]

Best of luck!

Thank you so much for your responses.
You are correct in that I'm not a UK citizen, I'm American.
I actually just came back from London on Wednesday, I was there for about a week. I stayed in a lovely hotel. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed myself and found most everybody to be super nice and accomodating.

I am very interested in being a student, but I was never sure about housing accomodations or what I would be eligible for (from anywhere) as far as financial assistance (since under a student visa, one can only work 20 hours a week, hardly enough to pay for anything important)... I would also need to find out about some sort of paid part time care attendant to help me with some day to day needs.

So it's all a bit sketchy for me.

I am very interested in being a student, but I was never sure about housing accomodations or what I would be eligible for (from anywhere) as far as financial assistance (since under a student visa, one can only work 20 hours a week, hardly enough to pay for anything important)... I would also need to find out about some sort of paid part time care attendant to help me with some day to day needs.

I'm not sure about accommodation options, but to get a student visa, you need to prove that you have access to enough money to pay for a whole year of study and living costs before you can get the visa - as an international student you would be looking at needing around £10,000 in course fees plus living costs for at least 9 months (£7,200 in London/£5,400 outside London). Any money that you might earn after arriving in the UK (working up to 20 hours a week) cannot count towards this, so you need to have it available before you apply for the visa. Unless you are very rich/have lots of savings, you'd probably have to take out a US student loan in order to pay for your studies.

You would seriously need to check out the University as well.  The two universities I have attended/worked at here in the UK were very old.  They do not need to be retrofitted for adaptability.  So tutorials were held on the fourth floor of a Victorian building.

I interviewed at a library the other week and they had an extension built in the 1990's and when I asked at the interview if it had an elevator they said "It has one for book carts."   

You would seriously need to check out the University as well. 

Agreed. I would suggest you do research about where and what you'd like to study, either at Bachelor's or Master's level and contact the Disability Services Office of each specific university.

You would also need to have your own funds to hire personal assistants, AFAIK, as you would not be eligibile for financial support in this area.   

Bachelor degrees:

http://www.ucas.ac.uk/

Master degrees:

http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Postgrad_study_main_menu/p!eFpclp

Try Disability Services to understand what you'd be eligible for, in terms of support, generally, at the University of Leeds:

http://www.equality.leeds.ac.uk/dis-serv/about/

You may also wish to contact the Centre for Disability Studies at the University of Leeds:

http://www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies/

http://www.sociology.leeds.ac.uk/research/students/soorenian.php

Best of luck!