SpecialEffect - a charity transforming lives

This weeks blog comes courtesy of Nick Streeter of SpecialEffect. Here Nick introduces the charity and the amazing work that it does.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead
US anthropologist & popularizer of anthropology (1901 - 1978).

This fantastic quotes sums up what a small Oxfordshire charity launched with £70 in January 2007 is doing in transforming the lives of children and young people with disabilities. One year later SpecialEffect has a small team of dedicated volunteers, supporters and above all our voluntary Director Mick and Patron Matt Hampson that have won two national awards and have been doing some amazing ground breaking things allowing people like young Helen who has a severe disability to play a computer game with her eyes alone. The smiles in this short music video say it all! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3UT79TLwBU

SpecialEffect is a charity dedicated to helping ALL young people with disabilities to enjoy computer games and to help people with severe disabilities like our inspirational Patron Matt Hampson to have freedom via technology. Matt was training for the England Under 21 when he was paralysed from the neck down, and who helped inspire the formation of the charity when SpecialEffect Director Mick Donegan starting helping Matt to access technology. Matt is dedciated to raising funds and awareness about disability. You can read Matt's story at

http://www.specialeffect.org.uk/pages/matt.htm

SpecialEffect's core projects are; Stargaze, inspired by Matt, which seeks to help people who experience severe injuries like Matt and; Game For Helen, which seeks to create the world's first fully accessible computer games suite at the Helen and Douglas House Hospice, which will include an eye control computer and adapted computer games and devices. In time, SpecialEffect hopes to help children with disabilities in other hospices and hospitals and to continue running its award winning computer games road shows for disabled groups of young people.

To find out more visit

www.specialeffect.org.uk