I had no choice but to use cloth

Dear Mrs Carrington-Roberts.

Congratulations! You have been cured from your lifelong disability. You no longer suffer chronic pain, nor struggle to get dressed, or socialise. Your life is radically changed, you can do everything any other person can do. We have fixed you, on our paper, with our pens and LIES.

Furthermore, we will now discontinue your support at university, take your mobility car away, axe all the care support you have, remove the extra financial aid you have and just in case that isn’t motivating enough, social services will periodically ring you to ask why you aren’t taking your children to school since we’ve now cured your inability to walk that distance.

Yours Sincerely

The.we.just.ruined.your.life.DWP

That’s the real letter that DWP sent to me, that’s the truth between their BS lines. Just like that, one letter stole my life. I found myself locked in my own home, forced out of my degree and unable to ask for support. Because, I wasn’t disabled anymore, hadn’t you heard?

What’s that got to do with cloth nappies? Well, there I was, without an income, on food banks, receiving those dreadful letters in the post about overdue payments and their consequences, and without nappies.

I pulled the last disposable out the packet and realised…shit. Food banks were already difficult enough because they couldn’t possible cater for our allergies. But now nappies too. WTF was I going to do?

I sat looking on the asda website at the nappies and wipes, crying. I couldn’t afford this week on week. And while I tried to compose myself, I scrolled to see something new…a cloth nappy. ‘What on earth is a cloth nappy?’, I thought. And here it began.

I was locked in my home anyway so nappy free time was fine. Instead of disposables, I bought one preloved cloth nappy, used it, washed it, dried it, and put it back on. The following week I had two nappies. So this time I washed and dried the nappy while the other was worn. It was exhausting but little by little we accumulated more cloth nappies so that I would never be without them again.

It wasn’t for the environment, it was because I had no choice. The rest came later. Including way too many nappies, a hell of a learning curve and then the passion for making fair access to eco-friendly choices. You can read more about that here.