Login Email Address: Password: Remember me

Search Site:

You are here: Home | Magazine | Holidays/Events | Outstanding Family Awards 2010 | Candis Outstanding Family of the Year Awards 2008 | East Midlands Regional Winner

East Midlands Regional Winner

The Matthews family from Goscote, Leicester

Like many ten-year-old girls, Celine Matthews loves to go dancing and to cheerleading classes. But Celine can only sit and watch as her twin, Rhia and elder sister Lacey, 12, jump, kick and twirl, as she has cerebral palsy, a condition affecting movement and co-ordination as a result of an injury to the brain.

Not content with sitting on the sidelines, Celine has become an ambassador for children with cerebral palsy through Scope's In The Picture project - aimed at increasing the number of images of disabled children in books - and has spurred her whole family, including her sisters and mum, Jean, 48, and dad, Peter, 39, on to do the same.

Celine was just two when diagnosed with her condition, and a more specific analysis found that she was diplegic, meaning her body is affected from the waist down.

"We found different playgroups and resources for Celine," says Jean. "One group, run by Red Cross, invited people to give talks. A lady from Scope came and brought along a book called Two Left Feet, about a little boy who has cerebral palsy and uses a walking frame, like Celine. She was only two and a half at the time but she was amazed there was a boy in a book like her. She'd never seen anything like it before and she just kept saying, 'That's like I am'."

Following that meeting Scope launched In The Picture, citing Celine's response to Two Left Feet as the inspiration behind it, and actively started looking for authors and illustrators to create books featuring disabled children. Celine, who was five by then, decided she wanted to write a book about her experiences of wearing splints and started working with Scope on developing it.

"When Celine draws pictures they always feature a walking frame, or splints or a wheelchair," says Jean. "They're basic, typical children's drawings, but they really reflect her and how she sees the world. Even the mermaids have mobility aids.

"Getting splints fitted can be quite a scary experience for children and there's nothing that explains the process on their level. Celine's New Splints is an amazing book, not just because our daughter wrote it, but because it gives children with cerebral palsy a starring role in a book any child can read. A few years ago there was a push for children's books to be more inclusive of different ethnicities; it should be the same for disabilities."

All the family have played a part in promoting In The Picture, and are kept motivated by Celine.

"What strikes everyone about Celine is how strong minded she is, she seems to know where she wants to go in life and nothing is going to stop her. Having cerebral palsy has never been an obstacle for her, and we all take inspiration from that.

"Every book, leaflet or poster she sees she points out where a disabled person could have been featured and how. Her ambition for the project is incredible, she's definitely on a mission!"