The Parity Mission

Excellence in the provision of services and support for people with profound and multiple disabilities and their families.

Our History

The organisation was founded by parents in 1953 under the name North Hants and West Surrey Spastics Society Group, to address the lack of provision for their children who had cerebral palsy and related disabilities. Nationwide there was a lack of awareness of cerebral palsy and even widespread prejudice. The organisation was one of the first local groups to affiliate to the newly formed national society, the National Spastics Society.

In 1956, with help from two other local groups, the organisation set up a service that operated three days a week in Worplesdon Village Hall near Guildford. An immense fundraising effort took place for a dedicated centre, and in 1962 the facility now known as White Lodge was opened in Chertsey.

Still under the name North Hants and West Surrey Spastics Society Group, the organisation continued to fundraise for other groups and began conducting research into local needs. As a result of this research, the organisation chose to focus on providing facilities for young people with complex and multiple disabilities, and began its own operations in 1989 with a music therapy service. Ten years later, the organisation had added two day centres in Farnborough and Camberley, and Easter and summer Teenagers' Activity Schemes.

In 2002, the organisation made a significant and dramatic change, adopting the name Parity for Disability. There were several justifications for this: that it works over a larger geographical area than Blackwater Valley, and that Parity's services focus on people with a complex range of disabilities. The name 'Parity' also emphasises our goal of parity in the community for people with disabilities.