My name is Hoi Fei and I am an ordinary mum to a boy with Down's Syndrome. As with many families of children with disabilities, I would like my child to experience life to the full and to be able to do things that his peers can do. However, I found it particularly difficult, and time-consuming, to find after school lessons or clubs that are willing to include children with disabilities. Unfortunately even my local authority had very little information about anything out of school.
I had been thinking of setting up a directory site to offer information about accessible and inclusive activities, classes, clubs and holiday accommodation. However, I did not know how to go about it until I met Heather from Khoo Systems Limited and it turned out that we had the same vision! She offered to support the design and development of the directory using the Church Pages' platform. And so our journey began…
Aim of Disability Freedom
To provide an easy to navigate, one-stop shop for families of disabled people to find disability-friendly local, and national services including:
- Out of school classes (such as music, arts, swimming, gymnastics, drama, etc)
- Wrap around childcare
- Clubs for children and adults
- Parks and leisure facilities
- Respite care
- Faith groups
- Holiday accommodation
These services can be mainstream or catered solely for people with disabilities.
We hope that you are blessed by Disability Freedom, and that it will help you and your child to experience life to the full.
Church Pages
The Church Pages Initiative was set up by Khoo Systems Ltd to help churches with their online presence. However from time to time Church Pages also supports other projects. Church Pages were already aware that there was a need for a user-friendly online directory of activities for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, and so when we met Hoi Fei we were delighted.
Church Pages worked with Hoi Fei to choose the name of the site, and then designed and built the site using the branding they also created. Hoi Fei’s personal insight into what was needed for the directory to be useful was invaluable and we are pleased with the end result. As the site grows we will be making amends to the website as time allows.