title: MOTHERS SPEAK TO PROFESSIONALS: aspects of the NWAC meeting of mothers of disabled children significant to physiotherapists.
abstract: This paper summarizes the results of a conference attended by mothers of disabled children. A woman who has given birth to a disabled child belongs to one of the most disadvantaged groups in society. She faces physical, emotional and financial problems. She has little prospect of leading a normal life. She does not complain, and asks for very little-and not for herself but for her special child and her family. The major needs are for immediate, accurate, and honest information, sensitively presented, for appropriate support at the right time; for relief from the intense and intensive caring situation, and from the financial burdens of having a handicapped child. She asks for better community acceptance and a reduction of the intolerable isolation and discrimination as a result of being different. Finally, she would like to know that her child will be able to maintain, independently of herself, the lifestyle she has worked so hard to provide.
authors.affiliation: University of Queensland.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Steinberg