Mencap Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Mencap - Essay Example Background/history Mencap began in 1953 by a group of parents and carrier from Leeds (UK) who saw the urgency to respond to the plight of children with special needs. During this period, Leeds and even the entire Uk hosted very few support services for people with special needs. Such is the case that parents who gave birth to babies with disability were often asked to surrender them to particular institutions and forget them completely; painful words for any parent. Consequently, many babies were left to suffer such a fate. Tired of this disgrace, parents with special kids, living within Leeds, began holding meetings in their houses and later formed a committee to serve the Leeds society. This committee named National Society of Parents of Backward Children became functional on 8 April 1953, immediately after its inauguration (Mencap, 2013). The inaugural meeting took place at Leeds Museum and was attended by squire Holye , the then Executive Officer of Leeds Health Department(its former name). In 1956, the organization changed its name to Leeds and District Society for Mentally Handicapped Children and later took the name Leeds Mencap Organisation structure (local&international) The day-to-day running of Mencap depends entirely on six important groups of people. This includes 1) The members 2) The board of trustees 3) The staff 4) Districts 5) Regional and country committees 6) National assembly members