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Postcards from home: the experience of disabled children in the school holidays
- Authors:
- SHARMA Neera, DOWLING Rachel
- Publisher:
- Barnardo's
- Publication year:
- 2004
- Pagination:
- 17p.
- Place of publication:
- Ilford
For the majority of families with disabled children a holiday away from home is not possible. Of the families we interviewed, only three were going away from home for a summer holiday: one to a specially adapted caravan provided by a charity and another to a cottage which the family had used previously and knew was suitable. One family was going away for a week without their disabled son because it was the only way that the family could take a break. This finding means that access to summer playschemes is particularly important for disabled children, because it is often the only chance that the children and young people have to play and to be with their friends as well as providing a break for their parents. However, places in summer playschemes for disabled children are limited as they are costly to provide and need adequate staffing and funding. Summer playschemes require specialist qualified staff if they are to include disabled children: such staff are in short supply. Furthermore, meeting the needs of disabled children requires a higher staff ratio.