My son lost his tooth when he fell from his wheelchair. I fought for years to get him a new one (2025)

A disabled man with learning difficulties was forced to wait two years for a customised wheelchair — despite falling out of a previous, unsuitable one in an accident that left him with facial injuries.

Ali Gulrez, 36, lives in Ilford with his parents. His family have battled over the years to ensure Ali has access to a powered wheelchair after he lost a tooth and bust his lip after he fell out of a manual one.

His mother, Tess Gulrez, has told Yahoo News of the struggle their family went through to secure him a measure of independence and freedom.

The Gulrez family are not alone - disability charities say the issue is getting worse and that long-term funding is needed to ensure disabled people can "access life".

One in five children waiting for wheelchairs

Ali has complex disabilities and medical needs including cerebral palsy affecting all four limbs, visual impairment, epilepsy and learning disabilities. He also doesn’t have any verbal or non-verbal communication.

His battle is one of many ongoing challenges in wheelchair provision, with significant NHS delays resulting in people increasingly more reliant on charitable services to meet their needs.

This issue affects wheelchair users of all ages. Nearly one in five children waited more than 18 weeks for wheelchairs or modifications between June 2023 and June 2024, according to ITV News.

Over the past 12 months, the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) has seen a sharp rise in complaints. Most relate to people not receiving new wheelchairs or the correct parts, with waits ranging from a month to two years.

In the UK, the legal responsibility for providing wheelchairs primarily falls on the NHS through local wheelchair services.

While wheelchairs can be purchased privately, a powered wheelchair in the UK can range anywhere from £2,000 to £5,000, making them inaccessible to many families.

'Exhausted' by the battle

In 2010, Ali rocked his wheelchair over and broke one of his teeth and split his lip. His family asked a legal team to fight for Ali to get a wheelchair that met his needs.

After a total of 12 assessments in Oxford, this was approved and in 2012 Ali got a chair custom-made for him.

In 2022 the chair needed replacing as parts had become obsolete. After going for another assessment in 2023, a purchase order was raised but then lost, meaning they were back to square one.

She told Yahoo News: "A normal wheelchair doesn’t offer enough postural support that Ali needs, and it doesn't offer enough support for us. His carers and I couldn't push him up a ramp in a manual wheelchair.

"Ali's manual wheelchair should have been replaced with a powered one. It was originally in 2011 under high court instruction. He was moving in a manual wheelchair and the wheelchair toppled over and he lost one of his teeth. It was horrible," she added.

After the purchase order was lost, Mrs Gulrez says she was initially told that the NHS wouldn’t pay for a new powered chair - though she claims they backed down after she got her solicitor involved.

Tess, 70, says she has been left "exhausted" by the battle.

"The clinical commissioning group were very cheeky. They offered to refurbish it like it was a car. I said I didn’t want to go ahead with that, especially because if it broke again, those parts were no longer available," she told Yahoo News.

"When it was time to renew the chair, the NHS clinical commissioning group took over completely from Redbridge Council, and he was taken on without any of his patient information. It was pointlessly complicated.

Mrs Gulrez says this is far from the only battle she has had to wage on behalf of her son. "For me, my son needs lifelong care. I don't really care who's in charge," she says. "In my spare time, I just read the national guidelines. His whole life, Ali has had a really tough time. You are fighting for basic care at every single turn."

Harriet Edwards, head of policy at the national disability charity Sense, is one of the voices calling on the government to invest in long-term funding "for the equipment disabled people like Ali need to access life".

“Wheelchairs provide independence and freedom, and are an essential piece of equipment for people who use them," she said. "Yet, sadly, at Sense we’ve heard that some disabled people with complex needs are forced to rely on wheelchairs which aren’t suitable for them or are stuck inside during long waits for a wheelchair. This can have a huge impact on both physical and mental health.

“This equipment is vital for making sure disabled people are included equally in society.”

A spokesperson for NHS North East London told Yahoo News it does not comment on specific cases.

"However, provision of NHS-funded equipment is subject to strict eligibility criteria and where patients or their families believe that the standard offer is not appropriate, we will always seek to work with them to find a resolution.

"On occasions, it may take a little longer to reach a suitable outcome and we acknowledge the frustration that this can sometimes cause," they added.