Striving for an ordinary life: making disabled children a new priority

An increasing number of disabled infants are surviving into childhood and adulthood, presenting a challenge to front-line health, education and social care services. Families with disabled children report that it is often a struggle to lead ordinary lives, and surveys show that many have experienced poor services. Every Disabled Child Matters (EDCM), launched in 2006, is a UK campaign to achieve rights and justice for every disabled child. It is a consortium campaign with four lead members: Contact a Family, the Council for Disabled Children, Mencap and the Special Educational Consortium, and represents the 770,000 disabled children and young people in the UK. With 28,000 supporters and more than 300 Members of Parliament signed up to the campaign, EDCM has succeeded in influencing Government policy to make children with disabilities a political priority. The Government's Aiming High for Disabled Children programme will provide over pounds 430 million to improve disabled children's services over the next three years. For the first time there is a national target on services for disabled children and a new legal duty on local authorities to provide these. However, more still needs to be done to help families with disabled children to lead ordinary lives and local health, education and social care services must play a greater role in making this happen.