From the editors

“I thought I was the only one” This was the recurring phrase that I read in letters from disabled mothers following the broadcast of a BBC film I had made in 1987 about a pregnant woman with cerebral palsy.

Their collective experience pointed to ignorant professionals and public, and a total lack of appropriate information. In their letters, I read about other disabled women who had experienced such isolation and ignorance. What should have been a happy and optimistic experience had often become a nightmare. My own awareness having been raised, I then became heavily involved with many initiatives to try and improve maternity care and peer support for disabled parents in the UK.

International networking

The inspiration to start DPPi came from a family trip I made to North America in 1992 when I visited a number of people and projects that were each trying to address the needs of disabled parents in different ways. I remember thinking: wouldn't it be great if their pioneering work could be shared more widely? The rise of the internet was beginning to make international networking a possibility but some sort of journal seemed like the best way of reaching many more people. Without any funding and only a rudimentary grasp of desk top publishing – but with the support and goodwill of the many pioneers I had met – I set out to try and make that vision a reality.

Building bridges

In launching the first ever issue of DPPi in 1993 I wrote:

“DPPi is here to build bridges: bridges between veteran parents and parents-to-be; between disabled people and professionals; between different professionals and between groups doing innovative work with disabled parents all over the world. The primary aim of this journal is to build a strong and lasting bridge across the gulf of ignorance that still exists about people with disabilities becoming or remaining parents. The essential building blocks of this bridge are information and the experience of those who have already been through pregnancy and childrearing and of those professionals who have supported parents well.”

I am delighted that DPPi has continued to build those bridges for 50 issues now and inspired hundreds of people to share their experiences both through the journal and the Information Service that was launched in 1998. I hope that, as a result, fewer disabled people embark on pregnancy and parenthood feeling so isolated and unsupported.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to making DPPi a success.

Mukti Jain Campion, Editor DPPi 1993–98

Next: Messages of support