When a mother discovered that her baby son was deaf, blind and spastic - and she was given the news piece by dreadful piece -she was gripped by despair. Denise Hennessy had committed herself to a child who would, apparently, never be able to return her love. ' No one', she said, ' ever comes to terms with having a handicapped child-it just goes on'. But then she discovered a group of women just like herself - all from Liverpool, all young, all mothers of severely handicapped children. They come from different backgrounds, different parts of town, drawn together by a common burden. They've made a pool of their own inner resources of compassion, resilience and guts. Denise and four of her friends in the Liverpool group tell Michael Dean how they have learned to live with and help their handicapped children - and each other.