Cinzia D'Ambrosi

A mother's struggle to keeping her child alive after being born with a series of major physical impairments and unknown medical condition. Malvina's life is marked by doctors appointments and hospital stay and the continuous stress of whether her child will survive.

A mother's struggle to keeping her child alive after being born with a series of major physical impairments and unknown medical condition. Malvina's life is marked by doctors appointments and hospital stay and the continuous stress of whether her child will survive.

Hawa is a mother of a 10 years old autistic child. This story highlights the pressure that parents and women like Hawa are constantly under; being carers and seeing precious support curtailed through increasing government funding cuts. A survey by the Disabled Children’s Partnership, a coalition of 60 disability charities, reveals that more than half of parents of disabled children have been forced to give up paid work to care for their child. The majority of parent carers have been treated by a GP for depression according to the survey of 3,400 families with disabled children.

Coping with the emotional and physical demands of caring for an individual with a disability is a life changing experience and coupled with cuts on welfare and support and increasing costs of living is very challenging. Ayan has a severely disabled child who needs 24 hours care. She took it upon herself to teach her son to write and ways to communicate and to support his diet. She fought for her son to receive adequate care and learning, something that it was not easily accessed.