ABSTRACT
Sue Thomas is a founder member of the Passport Parents’ Group, Stockport. In this chapter she uses the detail of her own experiences with her daughter, Elizabeth, to illustrate her view that services are based on the assumption that disability is a disaster and that, therefore, professional support frequently consists of taking children away from their parents, to give them a break. Sue argues that these separations undermine parents’ confidence and weaken the most valuable foundation for the children’s development, namely, their relationship with the most committed adults. She urges parents to reassert their personal responsibility for their children and demonstrate to professionals and politicians the diverse range of positively normal lives.
