Founded 1990 Area served International | Location London, UK | |
Type Registered charity No. 803551 Focus Understanding the underlying causes of brain disorders and thereby develop means of preventing them Method Research funding, Public policy, and Education. | ||
The Little Foundation is a London-based charity operating internationally.
Named in honour of William Little, the English surgeon who described what became known as 'Little's disease', a spastic paralysis of both lower limbs which then became known as infantile cerebral palsy. The charity, founded in 1990 by the late Ian Dawson-Shepherd, initially focused on funding research into the causes of cerebral palsy but now has broader objectives seeking to fund research into not only the causes and prevention of cerebral palsy but also allied disorders which include autism, dyslexia, epilepsy, deafness and blindness, learning difficulties, and other forms of neurodevelopmental disorder.
On 4 November 2009, Lord Hameed, the charity's president, tabled a motion in the House of Lords asking the Government what measures have been taken to prevent cerebral palsy which now costs the NHS £4 billion every year. The total annual cost of brain disorders (covering 19 groups of disorders) has been estimated to be €798 billion for the EU alone.
Research
The charity's most recent research projects include: