We are Team 5 from NCS North Staffordshire's Wave 2. Over the next 2 weeks, we will be raising both money and awareness for the struggles that the disabled and sensory impaired have to endure in their day-to-day lives. One of the ways we are aiming to fundraise in by facing a 'Day in the Life of the Sensory Impaired'.

This event will take place on Tuesday 1st August, for the entire 24 hours. It will consist of our group staying silent from the moment we wake up to when we go to sleep, raising awareness of the difficulties that the disabled community face when communicating. We will also be wearing ear plugs for the day, simulating what it would like to be deaf for the day. This would help both us and those around us to discover how difficult these people find it to understand even the simplest of things.

By donating even just a small amount, you will be greatly assisting us in helping the local disabled community, including Blackfriars special school in Newcastle-Under-Lyme. With your money, we can buy specialist supplies for the pupils which would immensely benefit their essential development to become confident, young people.

Also helping the school, we will be creating sensory boxes for the pupils which will have a large impact on the way they learn about the world, helping them to understand and interact with their surroundings. Multi-sensory toys with vibrant colours, different surfaces and bells encourage children limited hearing or sight to put their remaining senses to better use, aiding in their development. Our group aims to prove that even a small box of toys can have a huge impact of the lives of children with sensory impairments, hopefully encouraging other members of the community to help too.

Another issue which our group hopes to raise is the lack of public disabled toilets and changing places in our local area. In Newcastle-Under-Lyme, there are no public disabled toilets and there is just one changing place, located in the city library. Even though this changing place is a huge achievement in our community, more still needs to be done. The library is only open from 8am-6pm, meaning that for 14 hours of the day, disabled people have no access to these facilities. As well as this, the library is closed on both Sundays and Mondays, 2 of the busiest days in the city, leaving the disabled community without a hygienic place to change for 2 whole days of the week, every single week.

Last year, the Newcastle-Under-Lyme public toilets were closed to the public, meaning that the local population are now left to find toilets on their own. To most people, this isn't an issue: there are many toilets in local businesses which are free to use after they've received your custom. However, this isn't as simple for the disabled community. Very few public places have disabled toilets in their venues, vastly limiting the options left to the disabled population. By law, shop owners legally have 'the right to refuse custom', often to avoid their own inconvenience. This is due to the idea that it could lead to more people raising unwanted issues concerning disabilities, leading to an unneeded legal battle for them. If there was just one disabled public toilet, this would be an issue that both parties could avoid.

Sponsoring us and our cause would be vastly appreciated, as even a small amount would allow us to buy equipment that could change the way a child with disabilities views and understands the world.

Thank you.