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Many changes and new developments affecting the lives of people with handicaps were taking place in Norwich in the late 1960s. When Jack and Margaret Wymer moved into their new flat in 1969 they seemed to symbolise locally the culmination of a period of changing attitudes and new opportunities. Even so, many caring, involved and knowledgeable people found it difficult to believe that they would be able to achieve the degree of independence they were aiming for and have now accomplished. Knowing what to regard as ‘normal’ is always difficult, but for most of us the ability to exercise control over as much of our own lives as possible, especially our private life, is an essential ingredient of our normality. To be able to exercise choice is vital for life if we are to develop our own potential, but making choices means taking risks. It means risking failure. Society too often wishes, unrealistically, to impose risk-free environments on people with physical, mental or social handicaps, restricting their lives and limiting their potential development. People in society have difficulty in coping with their feelings whenever risk taking results in hurt or tragedy. But society would be much healthier, in my view, if we could all accept more openly and readily that risk and the independence essential for human dignity are inter-related. In writing this book and allowing us to share in their experiences, Jack and Margaret Wymer give us all the chance to see that risk, choice and independence are essential elements in the growth of their relationship and their life together. Apart from the significance of this to themselves they have taught the able-bodied something about living. Their greatest achievement, however, is in demonstrating that the apparently impossible can be done, thereby making it harder for society to deny the same opportunity for independence to other people with handicaps. I regard myself as especially privileged to have know Elizabeth Barnes, the social worker to whom this book is dedicated, She was a woman of remarkable maturity and wisdom. I know that Margaret and Jack Wymer agree with that their personal achievements in the last ten years are a tribute also to the special combination of faith and realism of Elizabeth Barnes, who risked, in backing the venture initially, the harsh criticism that can be metered out to professionals if failure results in accident or injury. If, as a result of taking this risk, other people with handicaps are enabled to achieve greater independence, she would have felt well rewarded. GEORGE
MEREDITH |
