By Jane Elliott BBC News Online Health

Jill now lives in a converted 'asylum'

When Jill Mahler was born over 60 years ago, the health policy was to put children with cerebral palsy into homes.

Parents were told that they were not capable of providing the specialist care these children needed and were advised that their sons and daughters should go into institutions.

Now Jill's story, and that of many others, is being recorded for posterity as part of an oral history.

Called Speaking for Ourselves, it aims to create an archive to chart the experiences of disabled people throughout the last century.

Experiences

Jill explained: "When I was born with cerebral palsy, the consultant advised my mother to put me away in an institution and to have another baby and forget about me."

Luckily for Jill, her mother was determined to keep her daughter at home and ensure she was accepted in society.

"My mother was a woman with strong views. Luckily for me, she was a fighter. So I did not go to a special school and I lived at home with my father and her.

"After several university qualifications and a busy career, I now find myself living in one of those large asylums, which have been converted into luxury flats.

"The irony is not lost on me."

The consultant advised my mother to put me away in an institution and to have another baby and forget about me Gill Mahler

But Jill, a mother of three, is aware that things could have been quite different.

She says that although attitudes have changed towards the disabled over the century that there is still a lot of prejudice.

"People still judge on appearances.

"I have a speech problem and walk as if I am drunk, but I can drive the car and I walk for miles. It is a hobby of mine."

"The police are some of the worst at judging on appearance. I have been stopped three times and have been asked if I am driving under the influence of drink. It is not pleasant. It is a humiliation."

She said other parents are still fighting to get their children accepted.

Adults with cerebral palsy talk about their childhoods In pictures

"The fight goes on to this day. Parents have to fight for everything when they have a child with a disability. Nothing comes easy when you have a child with a disability."

She said disabled people did not want special treatment, just the same treatment as everyone else.

"We do not want it put across that we are poor, brave or heroic. We are ordinary people who want to be treated as normal."

The two-year project by Scope, the national disability charity, plans to question people with cerebral palsy about what it means to be disabled and how this has changed during the course of their lives.

The project will look at their early years, investigating the impact of diagnosis and the effect of cerebral palsy on their early childhood experiences.

It will also ask about schooling, friendships, jobs and experiences in the work place.

Sexuality, marriage, parenthood, leisure activities and disablement in old age will also be examined.

Resource

The completed project will be used in schools and to teach young disabled people about their heritage.

Alex White, Scope project leader said: "Through real-life testimonies, this initiative will bring together a common voice for one of the most overlooked minorities in the UK today.

"We believe this project will help address inequalities within the academic field and shape a more inclusive future."

Fiona Stewart, consultant in clinical genetics at Belfast City Hospital, said this sort of history was a good way of showing the changing views towards the disabled in our community.

"I think the social history is a really good idea, because it will enable people to put it into context. We can see if we can learn from our mistakes."

"In the 1940s and 50s there was a big move to put children into homes.

"In the clinical text books of that time, it would actually say that parents should be told to put their children into institutions because they would not be able to offer them the levels of care they needed.

"Those parents who refused would be made to feel very guilty. But in reality, those places could not offer them much love and affection.

She said many children, once they had been put into the homes, would be there for life and in some periods such as during World War I and II, there would be few visitors.

"It was particularly bad for those children with cerebral palsy whose intellect was preserved. That would have been dreadful. If you don't know the signs, you can end up with these bright people being trapped in their bodies."