HOW THE PROJECT WORKS ... Keith and Jane have been able to buy a villa about ten minutes away from Disney World. Florida. They spend about 3 months a year out there, and during that time they invite families with a disabled parent to stay with them as their guests. Jane then acts as housekeeper, cook, chauffeuse, tour guide if required and general back-up in case of problems. (Yes, and bottle-washer too!)

THE VILLA.. has been adapted to make it more convenient for someone with a disability.. . the bathroom has been enlarged and equipped with a variety of handrails and gadgets to make life easier; there are ramps at the front and back doors, a handrail into the swimming pool. The bedrooms are convenient and the car is a large people carrier. (With the use of a ramp. someone can transfer from his or her wheelchair to the car seat in the privacy of the car.) The visiting family, the ‘Guests’... have their own bedrooms and a bathroom, separate from Keith and Jane’s. and two parents with up to three children can be accommodated. They have full use of the facilities including the swimming pool.

THE GUESTS... make their own decisions about how to plan their holiday,  and they are as independent as they want to be. although Jane is at hand for advice if required, 

This part of Florida is about as disabled-friendly as it is possible to be, (although some of the attractions are still learning!) and any special equipment needed for an individual problem can usually be hired locally.

FUNDING... now the difficult bit! The project had originally been expected to be self funding.  Keith and Jane would be in the villa, with Guests, for 3 months a year, and the villa would be let to the tourist trade for the other 9 months. This is done through management agents.

The income from the tourist trade should, and did for the first year, finance the Guests, paying for their attraction tickets, their meals and, in one family’s case, the airfares. (While the Guests are asked to fund-raise as much as possible for themselves, realistically this is often impractical and unreasonable to expect.)

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Unfortunately, one of the side-effects from the dreadful disaster on September the eleventh was a substantial downturn in the numbers of tourists booking Florida holidays and the villa bookings were poor. Just as they seemed to be picking up, the situation in Iraq developed and people again felt unsafe flying to Orlando. Added to that has been the SARS outbreak, and the bookings dropped to minimal levels. An understandable, but unhelpful, reaction to the dwindling number of tourists was for the theme parks, attractions and food outlets to steeply increase their prices to try to make up for the shortfall.

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Regretfully. Jane and Keith made the decision to start fund raising and, with that in mind, Jane and three trustees set up Houseguests Unlimited Trust, a separate fund raising charity which, was registered as a charity in October 2003

The object of this charitable fund is to provide airfares and insurances if needed, attraction tickets, and the cost of meals, for the Guests only. It should be stressed that grants will only be made to benefit the Guests directly, and it is  impossible for Jane and Keith to benefit in any way from this fund. (It has been written into the documentation that they will not receive payment, rent, salary, expenses or any other form of remuneration from the fund. They will fund their own tickets, airfares, expenses etc. themselves.)

THE GUESTS... As previously stated the aim is to help disabled parents to give their children a holiday. The object is to help people who have no other links with major holiday charities, in other words to find families who have slipped through the net of what is available, rather than going through regular channels such as advertising in carers magazines or going through major charities.

So far we have approached young carers voluntary helpers and asked them to suggest families. Keith & Jane have some experience in working with people with disabilities and are often able to understand what the needs of the families are by talking with the voluntary helper, although this can be difficult without going into confidential details. Once a potential guest family has been decided upon, they are approached, initially by the voluntary worker, and if they feel they would like to explore this possible offer, a meeting with Keith & Jane is arranged. Obviously it is essential that both parties feel comfortable about sharing a villa for two weeks, and, more critically, that the family are given enough details as to what the facilities are to feel confident in the arrangements. If all is well (and so far it has been) a further visit is made by Keith & Jane nearer the time of the trip to go through practical details: everything from customs and immigration information, to likes and dislikes in food, plus where possible, finding out each child’s favourite Disney character!

The children of a disabled parent are, in many cases less likely to have a holiday than a disabled child. Young carers organisations do a wonderful job arranging outings and support for the children, however, often it seems the importance of having fun together, to the long-term strength of the family, is overlooked.

We know we can only take three or four families a year and that that is only a drop in the ocean, but the results we have seen; children coming out of their shells, carers getting a real rest, and the whole family enjoying their time together in one of the world's most exciting places, has made us even more determined to continue with this project.