There are some new sections to the directory to help with your fundraising. if you have a Everyclick, Justgiving or Missionfish page, or you have Charity eBay Store they can also be listed on the directory for free.  For more about Fundraising, see below.

Its particularly hard for smaller disability charities who are already relying on overstretched volunteers to provide support for services, many of whom have a disability themselves, whose got time for fundraising too?

And sadly that is the dilemma that many face, do they concentrate on providing a good service or do they fundraise?

So here are some relatively simple solutions that may just help a little.  You may of thought of them already and dismissed them, however  in my experience, they are worth a go - if only for the psychological benefits positive action can bring for frustrated volunteers.

Of course, contact me to get your charity on the directory and if you do have fundraising pages like Everyclick or Justgiving, get those listed too.  The more people who know about you and what you do the better.

If you produce a newsletter, get it out there.  An email newsletter like this cost nothing to send and may just remind people that your still out there and need their support. If you produce a print newsletter ask your readers to consider donating stamps to help with the cost of postage for the next one.  And consider if there may be a local firm you can approach who may sponsor the next edition.

One of the biggest headaches for fundraisers is finding cash for day to day items like stationary.   Instead of asking for just cash donations why not also ask for donations of stamps, paper and envelopes?  It may be that you will get a more significant donation that way. But be specific about what you need, otherwise it a waste for both you and the person giving.

On the theme of asking for alternatives to cash.  If you have a volunteer who is able and organised, why not ask for quality items that you could offer as raffle prizes or to sell at fetes or on eBay? If your thinking of selling on eBay, again be specific about your requests, have you ever tried to send to a chandelier through the post?  And remember the quality or condition of an item reflects back on you, so no tat!

Okay so no earth shattering ideas there but, if you have any better ones please let me know and I might get a page of ideas together on the site.

She says I would have no problem if he went to a brothel in Amsterdam. Why should people with Down’s Syndrome be kept separate and pigeon-holed when they have the same emotions, desires and feelings as so called “normal” people? He has the same expectations as everybody else.

She added that she would be delighted if Otto brought a girl home after a night out.

He gets a kiss or two because he does have a way of chatting people up - but it doesn’t get anywhere after that. She said, adding that: His room is stuffed full of condoms which he buys every time he goes to the pub with his friends and his collection of pornography is staggering.

Now, the real question. Of course Mrs Baxter is right in thinking that Otto is a teenage boy with feelings and desires just like anyone without a DisAbility. DisAbled people have perfectly normal romantic feelings, although some able-bodied people may find that surprising. And we have every right to have romantic feelings and relationships. So why is Mrs Baxter considering doing something so drastic to enable her son to experience something perfectly natural?

Well, in September 2008, 1044 UK adults participated in the Observer’s 2008 Sex Poll. When asked: Have you ever had sex with someone with a physical disability?:

70% said No, and I don’t think I would.
- 26% said No, but I would not rule it out.
- 4% said Yes

When I first read these statistics, I was shocked that the percentage of negative responses to the question was so high, because I honestly thought that attitudes to disability had improved dramatically since the 1900s. However, these statistics easily explain Mrs Baxter’s view of her son’s romantic future. If 96% of adults have never had a serious relationship with a physically disabled person, and a worryingly high percentage of that 96% think they would rule out that possibility, what hope do young DisAbled people have of ever having any other choice in this matter? What choice does Mrs Baxter have, if she wants her son to experience a serious romantic relationship?

The survey wasn’t, as far as I know, restricted to able-bodied adults. So it’s quite possible that the 4% of adults who responded positively to the question were physically DisAbled themselves.

I’m pleased to say that, this year, the media seems to be accepting the idea of physically DisAbled people having romantic feelings and relationships, with Linda Gilliard’s novel, Star Gazing, which has a blind protagonist, being shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year Award, and BBC Scotland’s drama, Zig Zag Love, being screened on March 16^th.

However, it seems that the physically DisAbled still face a challenge. We must remember that we have natural romantic feelings, and that this is our right. We must find more ways of bringing this fact to public attention. We must hope to lower these extremely high statistics sometime soon, so that, just maybe, we can start looking for love without our parents’ help!

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Getting on the directory

Getting on the directory is really easy and only takes a few moments.

Either fill in this form online, or, Email me

Because I know you haven't got a lot of time in your day and you first priority is serving your clients, you wont get bothered by lots of e-mails (unless you want them), and you wont have to spend time monitoring your link as that's done for you.