I HAVE come up with a suitable punishment for the youths that have damaged the Hydrotherapy Pool in the past few weeks they should become my daughter for a week.

My daughter, Laura, is severely disabled and one of her few enjoyments is a visit to the pool for the freedom of the water and the company of her friends.

Laura spends her time in a wheelchair. She has no independent movement and no speech. Laura relies on me and her dad for all her needs.

The youths in question would have to sit in a wheelchair all day. They couldn't talk or move, and would have to rely on me for all their needs.

This would involve feeding them through a tube (no burgers) dressing and undressing them and taking them to the toilet.

They would have to rely on me to guess what music they wanted to listen to or which TV programme they wanted to watch.

They couldn't go to bed or get up until I was ready to do it. If they went out with their friends I would have to go with them.

The one area Laura has some independence is in her use and enjoyment of the pool. She still needs my support but, because the pool has recently been given a lottery grant to install new changing rooms and a hoisting system, it is a lot easier to use.

Buoyed up by the water she has a measure of freedom, a liberty that these vandals denied both her and the other disabled people of Swindon for a week.

The pool is a charity, so funding will have to be diverted from buying more equipment to carrying out repairs.

It also lost a week's revenue when it was closed.

I hope someone reads this to the youths who damaged the pool, in the hope that they realise just how their actions affected and deprived the people of Swindon.

MARION BIRD

Eastcott Road, Old Town