My name is Jackie. I’m a mother of two wonderful children - Mathew is 15 and Ellie is 8.

Mathew and Ellie are both disabled and have complex physical and medical needs. They are both incontinent and rely on pads 24/7. Without them, they would be sat in their own urine and faeces.

Our Local Health Authority used to provide these pads, but earlier this year they suddenly told us the allowance would be drastically cut. This could be happening across the country so the system clearly isn’t working.

Instead of 5 pads per day, my children are now given 3. This isn’t enough. Sometimes they’ll get through two pads before they even get to school. But when we raised this the Local Health Authority said we’d have to pay for the rest ourselves.

That’s a £1600 a year just to keep our children dry and clean. And it’s yet another burden that parents of children with disabilities have to face.

That’s why I’ve set up a petition calling for all people with disabilities to be given as many continence pads as they need.

I’m calling on my Local Health Authority and the Health Minister to work together and make sure everyone has access to free pads.

The situation we’re now in is humiliating for myself and for my children. I’m used to constantly fighting for their rights, but can’t believe I’m now having to fight for this too. Even my son’s consultant has said that this decision is ridiculous.

My children didn’t ask to be born with disabilities. All I’m asking for is that they are treated with dignity and respect.

Nobody should be robbed of this basic human rights because their families can’t pay for extra pads.

Sign my petition so that all people with disabilities get access to free continence pads.