My name is Lucy and I have a child with a disability. She is only six and a half. First she was not disabled, she was born normal, until she had a seizure at about 7 months and that is when we found out that she had a disability.

She is in a wheelchair. She can't walk. She is improving, bit by bit, very small improvements, but [that is] better than no improvement at all. The first two years plus was hard because she was going through epilepsy, not being stabilised. She didn't sleep well, all through the days and nights.

I used to work six days a week with the first child but ever since her [disability came on] I stopped working and only work two days a week until now. My husband looks after her on Friday and Saturday while I work. We find it very hard to look after her. She needs to be looked after 24 hours a day because she needs to be fed, and changed, every little thing, and exercised.

But she is getting to the stage where she is more normal and aware of us. Instead of screaming at what she doesn't like -- her way of expressing what she wants. She is happier. Which is, thank God, better than a screaming child at you 24 hours a day. When she is happy, we are happy. She is not [as] sickly as other kids and I suppose in a way that is better than having a constantly sick child, where you have to go in and out of hospital, so I believe that is one consolation.

Other things I don't expect too much [of], but a little improvement is what we look forward to. Hopefully it gets better and better for the future.

4.