Equipment — getting an OT assessment, adaptations and aids
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Equipment rarely arrives because you asked for a specific item — it usually starts with someone assessing what you actually need. Here's roughly how that process works and who's involved.
Getting an Occupational Therapy (OT) assessment
An occupational therapist assesses how you manage day-to-day tasks in your own home and recommends equipment or adaptations to help. You can usually be referred by your GP or specialist team, or self-refer to your local council's adult social care / occupational therapy service. It's worth asking early — waiting lists exist, and it's better to have things in place before you're struggling rather than after.
Paying for bigger changes
For larger adaptations — ramps, stairlifts, wet rooms, widened doorways — a Disabled Facilities Grant from your local council can help fund the work, usually following an OT assessment that confirms what's needed. It doesn't affect other benefits you receive.
Getting around
A Blue Badge makes parking closer to where you're going considerably easier. If you receive the higher rate mobility component of PIP or DLA, the Motability Scheme lets you exchange it to lease a car, scooter or powered wheelchair, with insurance and maintenance included.
Borrowing equipment short-term
You don't always need to buy or wait for an assessment to get something urgently. British Red Cross runs a wheelchair hire service with home delivery and no GP referral needed. For impartial advice on what equipment actually exists and what might help your specific situation, Living Made Easy (run by the Disabled Living Foundation) is a genuinely independent source — they don't sell anything, they just advise.