The
new charity Sky Badger will guide families with disabled children
to the help they need. The Sky Badger website links all existing
disabled children’s charities, social services, special needs resources and
support under one umbrella. The site: www.skybadger.co.uk launched this
week.
78%
of families in the UK with disabled children or children with terminal
conditions are kept in the dark for a year or more about what support is
available to them.
A
survey by new disabled children’s charity Sky Badger shows that
only 9% of families are told about disability support within four weeks of
diagnosis and a shocking 34% are never told about the help available to them at
all.
With
cuts to benefits and services, many families of seriously ill and disabled
children are struggling to cope, even though help is available, because they
just don’t know it’s there.
Sky
Badger will help parents get respite care, so
they can have a night of unbroken sleep or just a couple of hours’ break; it
will help them find out about ‘make a wish’ charities, funders who will help
them pay for mobility equipment, specialist insurance and counselling services.
But
Sky Badger will do even more than that. It will show families
where they can take their disabled child ice-skating, or rock climbing or on
safari. Sky Badger exists to show disabled kids that great
adventures are possible.
Sky
Badger patrons include Professor Stephen
Hawking, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger and
Gerald Scarfe.
Gerald
Scarfe told us: "My childhood asthma
meant I spent a lot of time in bed and in hospital, and not much time with
friends. I felt isolated and afraid. Drawing was my way of coping. I drew
constantly, putting my fears down on paper. This was the beginning of my creative
life. I believe that personal difficulties can push you to do great things,
that’s why I am a patron of Sky Badger."
Four
mothers founded Sky Badger. Between their 11 children, three are
disabled and two have life-limiting conditions. The trustees include Celia
Patterson, who worked at So Television, an independent production company that
makes the Graham Norton Show.
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