This post is a case study by Family Fund. They are exhibiting at this year’s Kidz to Adultz North in Manchester at EventCity. Say hello and visit them on stand E9 on Thursday 8th November.

Family Fund is the UK’s largest charity providing grants for families raising disabled or seriously ill children and young people. Their grants help break down some of the many barriers faced by families raising a disabled or seriously ill child, and cover a variety of things that may be of benefit, such as household items, family breaks and specialist equipment.

To learn more about how our grants help families, read Amy’s story below

Amy is 17 years old, and lives in North West England. She has Autistic Spectrum Disorder, and has been awarded multiple grants from Family Fund since her mum’s initial application in 2004. We spoke to her mum to learn more about Amy and how she heard about us.

We heard about Family Fund a long time ago now, when Amy was only small,” says her mum, Claire. We used to take her to a place at the infirmary called the Mary Sheridan Centre, and one of the members of staff there mentioned it to us.

Amy has autism. She is non-verbal, and is still in nappies, which impacts various parts of our lives. Even though she is non-verbal, she understands everything that you tell her, and she is very intelligent. So we just have to make sure we are constantly telling her what we are doing.

She is going to college at the moment, which has been great for her, but she is still very routine-based. If anything unexpected happens, she doesn’t take it very well.

Over the years we have received several things from Family Fund. We have had a washer, a fridge-freezer… then more recently the iPad. I think the first thing I applied for was the washer dryer, which we needed because Amy needs a lot of changes of clothes during the day.

Another year I applied for bedding for Amy. That meant she could stay at my mum’s house and I could have a little break. I remember that being really helpful at the time.

We definitely wouldn’t have been able to afford any of the items ourselves. We have got limited family who we could have asked for help, and so we probably would have had to do it through loans or credit cards, which I obviously did not want to do because we would struggle to pay them back.

Family Fund has been an absolutely tremendous help with everything that we have had and been through. I am just so thankful that they exist.

Find out more at www.familyfund.org.uk, call us on 01904 550055, email us at info@familyfund.org.uk or join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.