Book Description
The vast majority of the 100,000 or so children with serious mental or physical disabilities in Britain today live at home with their families. A series of in-depth interviews carried out with a number of parents enabled the author to describe the extensive physical, practical and emotional demands made on those looking after their disabled child at home. In their own words, parents report how and when they learnt about their child's disability; the sheer physical work and mental effort of daily care which more often than not fall unremittingly on the child's mother; the feelings of isolation and the lack of information which are often relieved only by talking with parents of other disabled children. Unshared Care examines the community services available, revealing that, from the parents' point of view, the rhetoric of public concern is only barely matched by the practical support available. It shows that services are, all too often, insufficiently specialized and lacking in coherence.
