Again, we see the able-bodied thinking they are helping the "disabled" by raising money, this time in a concert for A mum with a son who has severe learning difficulties is setting up a charity to help parents in a similar situation.

Emma James can only communicate with her autistic son Jacob by using eye contact.

The seven-year-old is unable to speak properly and has no sense of danger.

Emma, from Tudor Close, in the West End of Leicester, is launching Jacob’s Voice to provide specialist medical equipment to disabled children.

Emma, 28, is applying to register the charity and hopes to have premises in Hinckley Road open in the new year. She says she wants to put Leicester on the map for having good resources for disabled children.

Emma said: "Jacob has severe learning difficulties and his autism is at the top end of the scale. He needs constant care and is still wearing nappies.

"He understands parts of what you say and he can make noises, but if he is ever in pain, I never know because he can’t tell us.

"I want parents to have access to funds and to make the lives of children better.

"I am a mother on a mission. My dream is to have the people of Leicester giving back to our community and donating." Emma gave up her job in sales to become a full-time carer for Jacob. She has three other children - Joshua, 10, Erin, two, and one-year-old Toby.

Jacob also has a condition called pica - an eating disorder which is most common in toddlers with developmental disabilities. Sufferers frequently crave and eat non-food items such as mud, grass and plaster.

Emma says looking after Jacob, who goes to Netherhall Special School, can be very difficult, which is why she wants to help other parents.

Part of the proceeds from Jacob’s Voice will go to Friends of Netherhall - a voluntary group raising funds for the school.

Business manager Mumtaz Vohra said: "We raise funds to buy educational resources for the children, to subsidise residential trips and to put towards larger projects, such as buying a minibus. The school budget does not cover things like this.

"We are very pleased that Emma is doing so much for the school and hope she succeeds in what she is doing." Michelle Lakin, 31, from Littlethorpe, has a daughter who is autistic.

Three-year-old Katie was diagnosed in April and, like Emma, Michelle has no form of verbal communication with her child.

She said: "There are things we can’t do as a family that normal families can do because Katie gets very upset by change.

"This charity is a brilliant idea. Autism is something people are more aware of now but they don’t know what it entails.

"This will mean a lot to parents like me, especially as it is a local charity.

"A lot of places you ring to get help are not based in the town where you live, so having something in Leicester is very good." For more information or to donate to Jacob’s Voice, call Emma on 07960 496136 or e-mail: jacobsvoice@btinternet.com.

TAG: world disability news

Again, we see the able-bodied thinking they are helping the "disabled" by raising money, this time in a concert for Menphys (Mercury, December 5).

I did not see one "disabled" person singing or dancing in the photographs. Why not? Because, when it comes to treating the "disabled" as normal fellow citizens, most people look the other way.

Just how is this money (or all the money in the world) going to make one iota of difference to a harassed mother who has to cope with washing, ironing, cleaning and cooking, while keeping a disabled person happy and entertained, all day, every day? Do these people have "disabled" friends who are treated absolutely normally and expected to go to university and have a professional career the same as everyone else? I doubt it.

My daughter was thought to be disabled at birth - Down’s syndrome - as I was 40 when she was born. The treatment we received was absolutely outrageous. We were not treated like other parents and children. Indeed, the "doctors" would have killed her, if they could.

We have tried school after school and been turned away. Fortunately, being a grammar school teacher, I could teach her at home. She is not disabled at all, but very clever, yet we still get people treating her like a child, even though she is 18.

If you are "disabled", or are caring for a disabled person, you have to fight every inch of the way.

Fortunately, my daughter takes exams privately, from a teacher who also happens to be disabled, but has not let it hinder her in a teaching career of 49 years.

So, instead of giving yourself a pat on the back for raising money, go out and offer to help a disabled person, or just treat them normally and politely. Include them in a group of friends and make sure they are helped to make the best possible use of their life, at work, in the professions, at college and university. Bet you don’t! Miss Margaret F Guise, Long Eaton..

TAG: world disability news