Having a child with disabilities can be incredibly challenging for parents, particularly finding the strength and gaining the knowledge to advocate for what they need and deserve.
But Dr Sherita Mandongwe is hoping to change all that – she and her team of volunteers at Dimobi Children’s Disability Trust have already helped a huge number of families in Manchester.
The trust is a special needs and learning disability and autism provider based in Newton Heath and helps children, young people and adults up to the age of 25.
Having two children with additional needs herself, she set up the trust in 2016 with a plan to transform lives and drive innovation and change to benefit disabled children and their families.
She said: “We tackle the denial, stigma, isolation and shame that many parents can feel when they get a diagnosis and offer support and mediate and advocate for them and empower people to advocate for themselves.
“My son was born with special needs and this took me a long time to accept. I was in denial due to my own wrongly held African cultural conceptions, religious background, beliefs and myths about disability.
“I want to tell other parents that denial is unfruitful as it robs their children of the chance of receiving early intervention. My story is not an isolated one and I believe together we can make a difference in the lives of children and their families.”
The charity has already received a Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service for its efforts in creating positive impacts for some of the most vulnerable people in the community.
Dr Mandongwe and her team work with families and agencies to resolve conflicts and get children the support they need, including getting them back into school.
“We believe families with disabled children deserve better,” she said. “We work collaboratively to achieve more and respect the strength and knowledge of others.”
But where that fails, they will go to court to support families fighting for things like EHCPs (Education Health Care Plans) and DLA payments (Disability Living Allowance).
The trust offers a range of services, including:
- Information and helpline services
- Autism advice programmes
- Support and peer support groups
- Care for Caring parent programme
- Mum, dad, sibling outings
- Workshops for parents
It also offers a wide range of activities for disabled children – including football, filming, nature activities and indoor games like singing, dancing, storytelling and crafting.
Dimobi Parents’ Forum is a growing peer-to-peer support network of parents and carers, children and young people with disabilities and runs meetings and training workshops – such as fighting denial, financial and basic support services and early intervention.
“It offers a great chance to meet other parents and get and give feedback on important issues,” said Dr Mandongwe. “The forum works closely with local education, health, and social care to improve the quality and accessibility of services.”
The trustees all have children with additional needs and there are a number of volunteers who support the work being done. There are more volunteer opportunities available.
Funding has come from various bodies, which has enabled them to buy computers and a 17-seater minibus for activities, but still needs to raise more funds to continue running and improve its offerings – including plans for a sensory room.
Dr Mandongwe, who recently completed her doctorate in sociology, praised Talbot House and YES, which gave her support and a small office to start Dimobi.
“We now have a much bigger space, but we don’t have enough resources to help everyone,” she said. “We want to do more. I am so passionate about what we do.”
Dimobi Children Disability Trust works closely with its sister charity the Dimobi Women’s Trust to campaign against all forms of domestic violence while supporting victims especially, those with young persons living with disabilities.
Visit www.dimobitrust.org.uk to find out more about the trust, its work and how you can support it.
