posted on 29 May 2022

Unconditional Love by various authors, illustrated by Jessica Hartshorn

This beautifully presented book is an impressive collection of poems, prose, and thoughts written by parents, children and young people with additional needs, their siblings, grandparents and foster parents. It is an example of how a small community project can work in collaboration with people who use a service to challenge and change often negative attitudes about disability and neurodiversity. The aim of publishing the book was to ensure that a range of voices could be heard, too often those that are missing from public discourse. 

Whilst all the contributions have individual merit, I want to focus on three examples of poems that were particularly powerful:

Hopes and Fears, as a Year 7 Mum by Faye Padfield

This is a fervent plea to a school from a mother who structures her long poem with the repeated phrase ‘Please don’t break my child, school …’ as a way of showing that, despite his difficulties,  he is very capable. I think that it chimed with me because it mirrors the concerns of all parents who want the best for their children and are worried that they won’t be treated as special individuals once they leave primary schools. I think that it should be sent to all secondary schools which might define themselves as  ‘inclusive’ as a way of checking that this actually is the case.  

 

The Boy by Leigh Aspley

I liked the way that this parent puts her energetic  and demanding child at the centre – he is so vividly presented that I can see and hear him as he crashes about the house  leaving a trail of blue( his favourite colour) in his wake:

‘Spinning, twirling round and around

Kicking legs to his own beat, a covering of blue

Jogging bottoms always blue

Bare feet in the cold’.

 

Perfectly Imperfect by Ellen Penney

Written from the perspective of an adoptive mother, this poem succinctly describes the exhausting wait to receive multiple diagnoses and the on-going battle to get the right kind of support. There is a familiar, sometimes tedious rhythm to her days that means she has no time to do anything other than focus on her ‘funny, gorgeous, special son’.  As with all the contributions, she treasures the chance to get closer to her child and to get to know him better as he grows and develops.

 

The watercolour illustrations throughout are inspired by natural themes with a predominant blue, green and purple palette and break up the text by providing quiet contemplative moments. What shines through all the pieces in this collection is the intensity of relationships and the fierce belief of individuals in themselves and their family members with additional needs. Everyday life is described as sometimes frustrating, but sharing such experiences, alongside the evident joy of living with people who feel safe, loved and who are encouraged to be ambitious, can only provide solidarity and hope for the future.

This is a book that needs to be widely read.

For further information about purchasing this book and learning about the Entrust Care Partnership, a not- for –profit Social Enterprise, please email lynnebarton@entrustcarepartnership.org.uk or visit the website https://entrustcarepartnership.org.uk       

 

Karen Argent

May 2022