CAMPAIGNERS trying to save a service that offers free financial advice to disabled people in Barrow say they have been overwhelmed by the public's response.

Staff and volunteers at the Barrow and District Disability Association in School Street are bidding to keep their Disability Advice and Benefits Service open as without new funds it could close at the end of the year.

RELATED ARTICLE: Campaigners vow to save under threat benefits support service in Barrow

The project, which offers advice on benefits to new claimants from two advisers and helps appeal against unfair disability assessment rulings, is at risk due to the Big Lottery not granting continuation funding worth £361,246 in its latest round of applications.

The scheme, which was set up in 2011, has helped thousands of people claim or win back at least £6,605,720.

Margaret Burrow, honorary executive officer at the BDDA, said the level of support by the public has been incredible, with more than 400 people pledging support in a petition which notes the value of DABS.

She said: "The response has been just fantastic.

"When we set [DABS] up we did not just how many people would need it.

"What's a big worry, because it's a highly specialised service, is if we lose the advisers then there won't be anywhere else in Barrow to get this sort of help."

Volunteers at the BDDA have taken to the streets to gain support and more signatures.

RELATED ARTICLE: Petition hopes to save disability benefits service in Barrow

The charity is also in discussions with other funding bodies to try to come up with a short-term solution so the DABS arm of the BDDA can survive beyond 2016 and then be well placed to apply for long-term funding.

Comments on the online version of the petition shows the level of support for the service, with signatures across Cumbria and Lancashire and as far away as the United States and Australia.

Gill Davies wrote: "Services like this are even more important right now when there are being so many cuts made to all services for the disabled and those with special needs."

Joan Moorby wrote: "The town can't do without this service. It is imperative that we make people aware that this threat is real."

It isn't just advice on benefits that DABS can support people with. They can help in the application of blue badges and point people in the direction of seeing an occupational therapist.

The petition can be signed at the Barrow and District Disability Association, Women's Community Matters, Mind in Furness and the Evening Mail.

It can also be signed here .

What DABS has done for me

CASE STUDY ONE: PAUL Duffin, 49, from Dalton


Paul Duffin PAUL Duffin was a postman of 20 years when he collapsed one afternoon several years ago.

He says: "They found me one day on the street on Roose Road. I was unconscious.

"I remember going there and delivering and that was it. The next thing I was in hospital. They were trying to ask me questions.

"I was quite bashed about and they thought I had had a heart attack."

It was the first of many fits which left Paul more and more perplexed and confused about his deteriorating physical state, his shortness of breath and his tiredness.

On another occasion, he slashed his arm badly on glass as his body thrashed his hand through a window during a seizure.

Eventually Paul received a formal diagnosis of severe epilepsy and medication but that was not the end of his problems.

Paul says emotionally he struggled to cope without employment as he was medically unfit to go back to work.

For a long period of time he struggled to leave the house unless he had a doctor's appointment or needed to restock his cupboards with food.

Paul discovered the Barrow and District Disability Association after he was recommended to go along one day. It was there he came across the DABS team four years ago.

Understanding what benefits he was entitled to and how to apply was difficult but Helen Robinson, DABS adviser, helped Paul with his applications and he now receives disability living allowance and employment support allowance.

He says: "Helen has helped me with advice on things such as how much you are allowed in savings and benefits and any upcoming changes in regulations. It's the emotional pressure of it that's hard.

"When we go to face officialdom like the job centre and somewhere like the PIP centre you get nervous and you might say something wrong. They help you to prepare and get all these documents ready.

"I've had my benefits sanctioned and that's when DABS came in and they will help you out and things. They got on the case straight away to the job centre and the money was back in my account the same day and it was back dated. It was their mistake.

"I won't have coped without them."

CASE STUDY TWO: LOUISE Fell, 48, from Barrow


Louise Fell

A NEAR fatal car crash in 2008 left Louise Fell with a broken lower back, multiple fractures to both femurs, damaged nerves, total paralysis of her right arm, a head injury, and detachment of her right knee cap and shinbone.

The horrific injuries resulted in a year-long stay in hospital and a further eight months in home physiotherapy and hydrotherapy.

The impact of the car crash totally changed Louise's life as she now has to use a wheelchair and had to move into a fully adapted flat.

After working full-time Louise had never claimed a benefit in her life and didn't know the first thing about how to get the financial help she now needed to live independently.

The 48-year-old says the help she received from DABS was incredible as they sorted everything out for her, such as filling in forms and guiding her through the often complicated claims system.

Louise has gone full circle and now works at the BDDA as receptionist and as a DABS project volunteer.

Every day she sees nervous people walk through the doors of the School Street premises to inquire about seeing a DABS adviser. In many cases it's in relation to a person's Personal Independence Payment assessment coming back with a reduced rate or a family member taking ill and losing a source of income.

She said: "It breaks my heart to know that all the vital work we have done as a team could come to an end because the Lottery bid for continuance funding has been unsuccessful.

"The most rewarding part of my job was in helping clients change their mind set from them first coming in for an appointment and sitting in reception nervous to seeing them become more relaxed, happier and calmer knowing we are all here to help.

"We listen, laugh, cry, share with each other empathy not sympathy.

"Not only am I so heartbroken by losing the funding but also for the clients and future clients struggling to find help, advice and support from Julia and Helen and all of us working with DABS."

Louise believes her life was "saved again" when she first came across Margaret Burrow and the Barrow and District Disability Centre as the team gave her life purpose.

The great linking work the BDDA do mean someone who comes in for DABS may end up joining a social group, enrolling on an adult education course or volunteering in a project.