Between April and August 2003 Barnardo's and NCH Cymru were commissioned by the Welsh Assembly Government to carry out a national consultation with disabled children and young people to find out their views of the services they use and recommendations for change to health, education, social care and leisure services across Wales. The findings will be used to inform the Children's First objectives, the National Service Framework for Children and wider policy developments.

105 children and young people aged 5 to 25 were consulted by a number of different methods including interview, express cards and draw and write methods. The sample included children and young people with a range of different disabilities and special needs.

The following messages emerged from the process:

• Attitudes and behaviour of staff this had by far the greatest impact on disabled children and young people's experiences of accessing services and they placed significant importance on being listened to, talked to and treated with understanding and respect


• Provision of information it was clear that there were gaps in the children and young people's understanding of their disability; care and treatment; the roles and responsibilities of staff; the services they receive and the services available to them.


• Access and availability there are still challenges to accessing services for disabled children and young people, with the barriers being both physical and attitudinal


• Participationdisabled children and young people's involvement in making decisions about their care and treatment is not consistent across services

The 'key messages' sections throughout the report provide a full summary of the main findings.

The report can be downloaded from the Assembly's website.