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All age and all disability

enablement strategy DISCUSSION DOCUMENT

A discussion document is designed for you to provide some

feedback and ideas for changes or additions.

You can contribute to the discussion by:

Filling in the feedback form and returning it to the Building

Better Lives team by November 20th, 2015.

You can email a copy to:

agy.pasek@gloucestershire.gov.uk or post a hard copy to

Agy Pasek - Building Better Lives Support Officer, Block 5 4th

floor, Shire Hall, Westgate Street, Gloucester, GL54 2TG

Requesting that the Building Better Lives team come to an

event you are holding to discuss this strategy

Getting in touch with the Strategy and Transformation

Manager to give your views.

agy.pasek@gloucestershire.gov.uk

01452 583432

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Contents

What is an all age and all disability enablement strategy? ................................. 3

How do the Building Better Lives principles fit in? ............................................. 4

What do we want to achieve through this strategy? ......................................... 6

The all age and all disability employment strategy ............................................ 8

How we wrote this all age and all disability enablement strategy ...................... 8

Strategic Positioning* (How having an all age and all disability enablement

strategy fits with other plans and priorities) ...................................................... 9

What we do today (background, context and statistics) .................................. 10

The challenges with how we work today: ........................................................ 12

The things that are working well today: ........................................................... 13

What we are going to do differently ................................................................ 15

Our vision for the future .................................................................................. 15

The role of enablement in somebody’s ............................................................ 17

Changes to the way in which we structure enablement teams ........................ 18

Changes to the way we provide enablement in disabled children’s services ... 19

Changes to the way we use Drop-In services ................................................... 20

The role of user-led organisations in the future ............................................... 21

The role of community projects and the voluntary sector in the future ........... 22

The role of friends and family in enablement .................................................. 24

How will we know that we are doing a good job? ............................................ 24

Some examples of Enablement in action ......................................................... 26

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Discussion points:

What has the strategy missed out that it should have covered? What could make it more useful? What are the opportunities and challenges of working to such a strategy?

What is an all age and all disability enablement strategy?

The Building Better Lives Enablement and Employment Activity Card asks us to extend ‘enablement-type’* services to all ages and all disability groups.

*Enablement means improving people’s quality of life by making them as independent as possible. It’s about things like having friends, having a job, keeping safe, sorting out your benefits and being included in your community.

It’s also about giving people the help and support they need early on, so that we stop big problems from getting bigger because we can do something small earlier on which fixes the issue. We want to help people as early as possible and give them and the people around them the skills and confidence to help themselves.

We do not always use the word ‘enablement’ when we talk about these kinds of things. Sometimes we call this kind of activity ‘reablement’, ‘early help’, ‘peer support’, ‘early intervention’ or ‘prevention’. Sometimes we do not use any special words at all or even know we are doing it! Enablement can happen for people of all ages and all disabilities.

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We have teams in Gloucestershire County Council whose job it is to do enablement. There are also many small community projects, user-led organisations and voluntary sector organisations who help us. The 2gether Trust also deliver enablement services for people with mental health issues.

At the moment most people who work on enablement only work with one particular group of people (for example children or adults with learning disabilities). We want this to change so that opportunities for enablement are available to everyone, regardless of their disability or age. This is the point of an all age and all disability enablement strategy.

A *strategy is a plan of action which helps us get to the place we want to get to. So, an all age and all disability enablement strategy is a plan for how we will make sure that disabled people of all ages and all disabilities have the same opportunities to confidently achieve things for themselves.

How do the Building Better Lives principles fit in?

The seven principles of the Building Better Lives policy underpin this policy. Here are the principles and an explanation of how they apply to this work:

1. Early help This enablement strategy looks at how we can help people to do things for themselves and build on what they are good at. We think that if we get this right early we will get the chance to help people with areas of their life which they find difficult, which sets people up for a better long-term

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future.

2. Inclusion The principle of being a part of the community is a key part of the strategy. We are looking for ways to make people included, rather than segregated in specialist services.

3. Independence The main point of enabling is to make people as independent as possible. Disabled people have clearly told us that this is what they want.

4. Contribution Everyone has a contribution to make and it is the job of the disabled person and the individuals enabling them to figure out what that contribution is and how it can be facilitated. People might make a contribution through paid work, volunteering or time-banking.

5. Shared responsibility Enablement is not just about special teams of people who help. It is also the job of the community and voluntary sector to enable people. It is also something which friends, family and the community help with. Everyone’s part counts equally.

6. Personalisation through choice and control Enablement services need to be designed to suit the needs of the person to work effectively. Being more independent and included also opens up a lot of new choices and options to people.

7. Coordination of a whole life approach We need to use enablement approaches throughout people’s lives. During childhood it’s time to start planning for the future and preparing to become more independent. In adulthood it’s about contributing to society in whatever way works best for you. Older people can also access enablement to retain skills, keep friendships and stay included and independent.

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What do we want to achieve through this strategy?

Discussion points:

Are we focused on achieving the right things? If not, where should our joint focus be?

→ We want disabled children, young people and adults of all ages and all disabilities to have ordinary experiences and meaningful lives.

This means :

- They are safe - They have choice over where they live and who

they live with - They have a job - They have friends and supportive relationships

→ We want to stop people from accessing services when there are different and better ways in which they can meet their needs in the community.

We know that paid support is used too often and that we can help people and the communities around them to help themselves. We can replace paid support (or stop people from ever getting it in the first place) by working together better and thinking more imaginatively about the options. When we get this right it gives people a more ordinary life. We can give people the skills and training so they do not need support in the first place because they can

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manage on their own. We can also help the voluntary and community sector to understand the needs which private-sector providers are currently meeting for people and proposing different alternatives (such as time banking, befriending and building circles of support). We will need to make sure that the organisations which help us with enablement have close relationships with social workers, support planners and other staff working at the council and health who are putting together people’s support plans so that what they offer can be a part of the plan.

→ We want to avoid using expensive specialist services when there is a better option.

We know that we have had some fantastic success stories of people’s needs being met in an ordinary way in the communities where they live. You can find some good examples of this at the end of this document. These solutions are often at low cost or at no cost at all, and this means the money can go further for those who do need specialist services. What really matters is meeting the needs in a way which work for each person and their family. But we are not doing this enough and we still have a long way to go. The county council and the health service have less money than ever and to continue to be able to support good lives for disabled people we need to stop paying for things that could be done differently with better end results. The voluntary and community sector, user-led organisations and the enablement teams in the council are key to this.

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The all age and all disability employment strategy

Having a job is a really important everyone’s life and a key part of enablement.

This strategy does not cover employment, but the links between what we are saying here and what is changing about getting a job when you are disabled are really important.

Please make sure you also read a copy of the all age and all disability employment strategy which is published at the same time as this strategy.

How we wrote this all age and all disability enablement strategy

This strategy has been co-produced in line with the requirements of the

Building Better Lives Coproduction Charter.

We have:

We sent the discussion document around to everyone involved in the Building Better Lives programme. We provided feedback sheets for people to send their comments and held a drop-in discussion session.

Used feedback and discussion from large events where the voluntary and community sector, Gloucestershire County Council staff, members of the reference groups, disabled people and Carers have all come together. This included the Enablement Discovery Event in May 2015 and the ‘Making a Blueprint for services’ event in April 2015.

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We will learn a lot from focusing everyone on an all age and all disability enablement strategy. This means we will need to update the document from time to time. We will work with everyone who has contributed to think about the best way to do this.

Discussion points:

How well did we coproduce this strategy? Could anything have been done differently or better?

Strategic Positioning* (How having an all age and all disability

enablement strategy fits with other plans and priorities)

Having an all age and all disability strategy fits with many other priorities and

plans which Gloucestershire County Council are working on or which the

government has asked us to do.

These include:

The Building Better Lives policy, which talks about bringing services together across disability groups and sets out seven important values which need to be at the heart of all the changes we make.

The Special Educational Needs reforms in the Children and Families Act 2014 which asks us to think about children’s futures.

The Care Act (2014) which highlights the importance of early intervention and prevention work.

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No Health Without Mental Health, a cross-government all age strategy for people with mental health issues which talks about the important role of prevention.

The Mental Health Crisis Care concordat. This is a national agreement between services and agencies involved in the care and support of people in crisis. It sets out how organisations will work together better to make sure that people get the help they need when they are having a mental health crisis.

One of the four main areas is access to support before crisis point – making sure people with mental health problems can get help 24 hours a day and that when they ask for help, they are taken seriously.

The Council Strategy which includes:

Active individuals

Active communities

Getting people back to independence

Being there when we’re needed most.

What we do today (background, context and statistics)

At the moment, enablement services are delivered in a way which is not very joined up.

The Learning Disability Enablement team works with people with learning disabilities. They provide support to people to improve people’s skills and independence. They also run Drop-Ins.

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People with physical disabilities receive enablement support from the Integrated Care Teams. This includes people from a team called the ‘Reablement Team’. This is a service which also works with older people. They will work with you for up to six weeks to help with things like independence and staying at home. They often work with people who have just come out of hospital.

People with mental health issues receive enablement support from the Independence Trust. They provide a Wellbeing Service works on similar principles to the Learning Disability drop-in services but primarily support people with mental health issues and autistic spectrum disorders. The Wellbeing Service provides:

1-1 support for people to access the community Resources for people to develop social networks Access to safe spaces in the community Peer support Activities that promote mental wellbeing

Disabled children receive enablement from early years onwards, with an emphasis on providing support in ordinary settings – nurseries, community activities, schools – right from the start of children’s lives. Parents are supported to have confidence in their disabled child being out in the world with everyone else, aspiring to as much independence as possible and to making a contribution. Providers of sports, arts and leisure activities are supported with free training and advice and guidance from inclusion coordinators, Inclusion Grant and capital grants. Educational settings are supported by early years teams, educational psychologists, and advisory teachers. An enabling approach is also taken in schools to build independence skills, through short breaks having a focus on providing a community based activity and through paid support to encourage and enable children to do as

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much as possible for themselves. Advisory teaching services in schools help provide the right aids, adaptations, training, advice and guidance to support a child. The Family Information Service, The key and the local offer provide information about a wide range of activities and opportunities. When a child has a personal budget, the plan in place to meet needs will identify areas for the child to work with the paid supporter to develop independence skills and to spend time in the community.

There are a large number of organisations which work with various disability groups in an enabling kind of a way. Some of these are small organisations that work with a number of people in the county in a particular area. Others are big and deliver lots of projects. Some are charities, some are social enterprises and some are user-led organisations.

Discussion points: What are your experiences of the way we work today? Have you had experiences that you would like to see more of thanks to this strategy? Or have you had a bad experience that we should learn from?

The challenges with how we work today:

At the moment you get different services, experiences and opportunities depending on the diagnosis you have been given and your age.

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If your diagnosis changes you sometimes need to change to another service to get support.

We are not working together as well as we could do. The voluntary and community sector and user-led organisations are not working closely enough with enablement services to achieve the best possible outcomes for people. We are not always targeting the right people or working with the same idea of where we are trying to get to.

This is why we want to change.

The things that are working well today:

We know that Learning Disability Enablement services can work really well. The service gives people new opportunities and skills which build confidence and independence, as well as often saving money. The team works with both with people who have care packages and who do not for a period of up to six months. When people have packages of care, the work of the enablement team often helps to inform what goes into their assessment to get an accurate picture. People with a learning disability have told us that they have seen some positive changes in their life thanks to the opportunities they have accessed through this service. The team also has a rapid-response function, allowing them to carry out work at short notice when there are no other services available.

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We have found that enablement-type work done with people with physical disabilities can really help. It works very well with people who have just come out of hospital and need an intensive period of help to get back to normal and live independently.

The new wellbeing service which started in 2014 currently sees over 600 people per year. Significant numbers of people report an improvement in their mental wellbeing, confidence and an increase in their social networks.

We have found that the key to enablement is to begin in early years, and to develop choices and tackle barriers that are limiting people’s choices. This has made a significant difference to, for example, the numbers of children needing specialist early years placements, and the number of children using children’s homes for short breaks. More and more disabled children are out and about in the community, taking part in activities, developing skills and preferences, not only being protected but also having adventures, learning how to manage risks, and learning about the ways they can contribute in the world. We are working with some young people through their personal budgets to focus on providing support which builds independence skills and take positive risks to enable a young person lead a fuller life with greater independence. We are developing the help we will offer the community to support children and young people be enabled. This offer will be made to schools, community groups, providers to all work together early to give people the best help to achieve greater independence.

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We know that we have got better at supporting community organisations. We now have several successful user-led organisations in the county, as well as a large number of community projects. When we have funded this work, our quarterly monitoring has shown us that these organisations are working with more and more people and taking on new and different challenges which are making a difference to people’s lives.

It is important that we continue and build on these areas of success in this new strategy.

What we are going to do differently

The next section of this strategy explains what is going to change. This will take some time and we will learn a lot as we go along. We will start with the small changes and go on to the big changes.

Our vision for the future

We want an all age and all disability enablement strategy to make people able to do as much for themselves as possible.

Starting early is really important. We want disabled people to make the most of what they can get out of life, starting from a young age. The research shows that starting early has a big impact on people believing in themselves and being successful and independent adults.

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The picture on the next page shows the role of enablement in someone’s life. The job of enablement is to support, develop and improve the support that a person gets from their community, as well as providing the opportunities and support for someone to be able to contribute back to their community.

Enablement can help someone with a disability even if they do not get any paid services. If it is successful, it may also prevent people from ever needing services.

Enablement can also work when a disabled person receives services. Getting paid support does not mean you cannot develop new skills or learn new things. It may mean that you need fewer services as a result.

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The role of enablement in somebody’s life

The model above shows the role of enablement in a persons’ life.

The ‘enablement’ ring is the blue ring. The yellow circle shows the disabled person and the green rings show the most common elements of someone’s circle of support (such as their friends, their family and their

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job). The purple ring on the very outside shows paid services which a person might get.

So, the job of enablement is to be the bit in between a care package (if you have one) and the persons’ ‘ordinary life’. Enablement will help disabled people to get a job, make friends, have a social life, be a part of the community or get advice with money or housing. If you have had an assessment of need, it may be that the council finds that you need help with some of these areas. Enablement can help you so that you can manage these needs on your own.

We know that people who get paid services can often get cut off from their communities. Enablement can help them to get back to making a contribution and being included. In time, having friends, a job or getting the right advice may mean you don’t need as many services (or even any at all).

We also know that people often feel that the only way they can live their lives safely and with the support they need is to get paid services. Enablement can give them help and support with the things they really need help with, which will often mean they need fewer services (or none at all).

Discussion point What do you think of the proposed vision?

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Changes to the way in which we structure enablement teams

We are planning to create a whole team in the county council which specialises in doing enablement for all ages and all disabilities. This will bring together all of the teams now which work on enablement into one team, with one manager. At the same time we are also bringing together disability services (social workers, assessors, support planners and Lead Professionals) across all ages and all disability groups.

This team will also work with all the community and voluntary sector organisations and user-led organisations in Gloucestershire.

The manager will be responsible for giving out funding and reviewing whether or not community groups and user-led organisations are meeting their targets.

Having both the teams and disability groups and community projects in one place like this is an important step. It will mean that the two areas will work more closely together. It will also be an important first step to our long-term plan: that disability groups take over running enablement services.

Changes to the way we provide enablement in disabled children’s services

Disabled children will get enablement support through the early help hubs.

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We are planning our enablement offer in the Early Help Hubs. We think this will be people who work for GCC who will help others working with Children to understand what enablement means and how to enable children and young people in community and the services they run.

Changes to the way we use Drop-In services

Drop-Ins are an important part of enablement. A Drop-At the moment a Drop-In is a place in your local community where people with a disability can go for advice, to meet friends or to sort out a problem. The county council runs six Drop-Ins. Drop-ins can help you with things like help with finances, advice and guidance around moving home and employment opportunities.

We are making some important changes to Drop-In services. Some will start right away and some will take a bit longer to start.

The first change is that we are going to give disabled people some more control over how the Drop-Ins are run. This will mean working with the managers who run the Drop-Ins and disabled people locally to give disabled people more control. Gloucestershire County Council will start sharing the management of these services and all important decisions will need to be agreed by both sides before they go through.

The second change is that we will make the Drop-Ins accessible to all age groups and to people with all disabilities. At first the Drop-Ins were only available to people with learning disabilities. Now they are also being accessed by people with mental health issues. We will also make sure that people with physical disabilities feel welcomed at the Drop-Ins and start the work on how to make sure they can be accessed by children and young people safely.

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The third big change is that we will start getting the Drop-Ins ready to - in time – hand over to community groups to run. Sharing the management of them with disabled people is the first step of this. At the moment the Drop-Ins are also a work base for members of the Learning Disability Enablement Team. We think that community groups or user-led organisations would be better than the County Council at offering a safe and attractive Drop-In space in the community where people can meet their friends, find out some information about things that are going on or stop to get some advice. We will start by giving one Drop-In to a community group to run and then do the same with the rest of them.

The role of user-led organisations in the future

User-led organisations are organisations run by and for the people who use them. So, disabled people’s user-led organisations and run by disabled people, for disabled people.

User-led organisations have a very important role to play to deliver the Building Better Lives policy.

If user-led organisations are funded by the council then we expect them to play a very important role in delivering this Enablement Strategy and to operate in a way which is consistent with this agenda.

We want User-Led organisations to prevent people from needing to access services and to help with delivering all of the seven principles of the Building Better Lives policy.

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The role of community projects and the voluntary sector in the future

The role of the voluntary and community sector in delivering enablement is really important. This sector has the skills, talent and motivation to make a huge difference.

If voluntary and community sector projects are funded by the council then we expect them to play a very important role in delivering this Enablement Strategy and to operate in a way which is consistent with this agenda.

User-led organisations need to make their work known to the county council, to Carers and to disabled people. We expect under this strategy that user-led projects

User-led organisations need to make their work known to the county council, to Carers and to disabled people. We expect under this strategy that user-led projects funded by us are:

Advertised to enablement teams in the council

Advertised to social workers and support planners who work for all ages and all disability groups

Advertised directly to disabled people and Carers through the Building Better Lives reference group.

More information about this is provided in the community projects and voluntary sector section below.

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funded by us to:

Start making the changes to deliver services to people of all ages and all disability groups, instead of to just one group of people.

Make relationships with and leave publicity material for social care operations teams for all ages and all disability groups.

For disabled children this means the disabled children’s services

For physical disability services this means the Integrated Community Team managers

For learning disability services this means the Learning Disability Operations team

For mental health services this means the mental health teams run by the 2gether Trust

Advocacy providers

It will also be important for community organisations to understand the processes that the teams work within and to agree their role within these. It will be important to understand eligibility criteria and the assessment and support-planning process. Organisations will also need to understand outcomes and reviews. They will need to understand how their support will contribute to meeting a persons’ outcomes, how referrals will be made to them and how their success will be reviewed.

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The Building Better Lives Support Officer can provide you with the information to make the links described above.

The role of friends and family in enablement

Enablement is not always done by people who job it is to do it. It can also be done by the circle of support around the disabled person: that is their friends and family.

We have not always been very good at recognising this and making plans where this informal support plays an equal part. This is going to change.

Discussion point: What do you think of these proposed changes? Where are the challenges and the opportunities?

How will we know that we are doing a good job?

This strategy will be evaluated against some key indicators of success.

A Building Better Lives scorecard will be produced quarterly by the Performance & Need team which will show whether or not we are on track.

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This strategy will be monitored by the Building Better Lives Board.

It will be the job of the Enablement Subgroup of the Employment & Enablement workstream of the Building Better Lives programme to drive the work to make the changes happen.

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Some examples of Enablement in action Below are some examples of enablement being a success. As this strategy

evolves and is taken up by more people we want to see many more people

with stories like these.

Rudy’s story

Rudy is 17 and from the Forest of Dean. He has Dravet

Syndrome which is a complex form of epilepsy, resistant

to conventional drug therapies and, as a result, he has

severe learning disabilities and severe global

developmental delay.

Prior to 2011 Rudy was in receipt of traditional service

provision which included overnight stays at block

commissioned residential unit and 1:1 support in the

community during school holidays. He was unhappy and isolated and his

opportunities were restricted, his family was exhausted and lurching from

crisis to crisis.

As a result of lack of social interaction, Rudy’s behaviours were becoming

increasingly difficult to manage when he was out and about and his

opportunity to access any kind of provision was becoming severely restricted.

In 2011 we worked with the family, Rudy and all practitioners supporting them

including Education and Health to build a support plan that focused on specific

needs and outcomes for not only Rudy but also his parents and his

brother. We individually commissioned provision for him that included

overnight short breaks in his local area as well as community based

support from a local provider.

Thanks to a Personal Budget he has a small group of known carers with whom

he has formed good relationships and who are skilled in managing his complex

health needs as well as supporting behaviours that challenge on a regular

basis. He has opportunities to mix with other young people and to access a

range of recreational and leisure pursuits that previously were impossible to

even dream of. Rudy loves being active; he enjoys watching motor bikes,

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skiing, horse riding, bowling, playing pool, being around other young people

and swimming. The people in the village know him and say hello to him.

Ralph’s story

My name and I am 52 years old. My parents came from

Spain, I was born in Liverpool and this has been central to

my upbringing, I am still able to talk fluent Spanish.

I suffered a brain injury many years ago from a motorcycle

accident which left me in a wheelchair unable to walk or

talk. I worked very hard to recuperate from this but my memory was affected

and this can affect how I live my day to day life.

For many years I attended a day centre In Cirencester. I live on my own in a

one bedroom flat in Cirencester close to the town centre and my local

supermarket and chemist.

I would very often stay in only going out to go to the Jubilee club, where I

attended snooker and pool after I finished attending the day centre. One area I

worked on with my enablement coordinator was finding new activities for me

to do. At first I did not like some of their suggestions as they would clash with

my existing routine or be in the evenings and due to my memory and eye sight

I do not go out at evenings when it is dark.

My enablement co-ordinator introduced me to the quiz at the Drop In and

worked with me in a way I could remember by remembering landmarks on the

way to be able to access the Drop In myself. Each week they write in my diary

to come to the Drop In and what time so I don’t forget. They remind me it is by

Rackham’s where I used to work so I remember the way from the town centre.

They also supported me to learn where Ashcroft church was so I could go for

afternoon tea and the language cafe. At the language cafe I get to talk with my

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friend whom I met through the Drop In and also speak Spanish which allows

me to talk about this part of my heritage.

I wanted to access the Christmas meal at the Bingham hall as I would have to

spend Christmas on my own as I have no one else to spend it with. My

enablement coordinator spoke to the organisers and arranged for me to have

free transport there and back. This meant I did not have to learn another route

and become confused with what activity was where as this can happen due to

my memory and I will get lost.

Philip’s story

Phillip has moved into his new flat to live independently for the first time.

Philip has lived for many years in supported living.

Philip has support in his home at the times of the day that he needs it. This

includes meal times and times when he needs help with his money.

Philip attends the Drop-In for support with correspondence, emotional

support, voluntary opportunities and seeking activities of his choice

Phillip said “I am loving it! I am really really loving it, it’s the best thing that has

ever happened to me thank you for all your help”

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Daniel’s story

Daniel attended Gloucestershire College

until June 2012 where he accessed a life

skills course to support his development.

Daniel commenced Enablement support

at Cheltenham Drop-In after leaving

college so he could learn new skills and

increase his independence. Daniel received intensive support from Enablement

staff in learning to cross roads safely, learning new bus routes and integrating

into community activities of his choice. Daniel attended regular training

sessions at the drop-in about The Keep Safe Scheme, Personal Safety, Stranger

Danger Awareness, Money Skills and Social Skills.

Enablement staff and family supported Daniel with purchasing a suitable

mobile phone with minimal buttons and training was put into place to ensure

that Daniel could make and receive a phone call. Enablement staff also put

communication cards into place to support Daniel with communicating with

others when accessing the community. Daniel was encouraged to wear a

waterproof watch, set with an alarm, during his swimming session. This

enabled Daniel to know when to get out of the swimming pool and when to

catch buses.

Daniel’s confidence increased and he gained the skills and knowledge to

enable him to travel independently to and from community venues and to

participate in activities of his choice safely.

Daniel was keen to work and attended the Forwards Employment Groups with

the Employment Coordinators, where he gained the skills and knowledge

needed for a work placement. The Employment Coordinators found Daniel a

suitable work placement as a volunteer at Cornerstones Centre. Daniel helps

during the soup lunch and his responsibilities are clearing the dirty dishes from

the tables and cleaning up.

Daniel said ‘I like going to the Drop-In. Staff helped me learn to do different

activities on my own. I can now go swimming, bowling, walking and cinema on

my own with my friends.

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Shane’s story

Shane attended the Beeches day centre

and Garden Links in Stroud for many

years.

In December 2013 Shane started some

work with the Enablement team. This

was to work with him around his

independence skills and to gain

experience in a working environment.

In 2013 he began doing some voluntary work on the Stroud Canal project on a

Tuesday. He was initially supported to access the Canal until he was confident

to do this independently. He now accesses this totally independently every

Tuesday.

Shane comes to the Drop In 3 times a week using the voluntary transport as

there is no access to public transport from where he lives.

His confidence has grown in this time and he enjoys spending time with his

peers. He will sit and socialise with them and goes bowling with them every

Monday.

Malcolm’s story

Malcolm lived in Gloucester in his own flat in

a Keyring community.

He was friends with other KeyRing Members

and enjoyed spending time with his

girlfriend and dog, going to the gym and

helping out with timebanking through Fare

Shares.

Malcolm said that he wanted to find his family in his KeyRing Individual

Support Plan so his KeyRing Community Living Volunteer said she would try her

best to help. Every year, “find my family” was on G’s Individual Support Plan.

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Together with the Keyring volunteer they created an Action Plan with all the

information they knew and tasks to try to find G’s family All G knew was that

he had been taken to a children’s home when he was a teenager. This was

unsuccessful until one day, when G mentioned for the first time, that he

thought he had been born in Malta.

KeyRing’s Community Living Volunteer contacted the Maltese Embassy who

were moved by G’s story. G had been born in Malta and his family had army

connections. The CLV used this information to track down his family in

England. They even lived in Gloucestershire

KeyRing’s Community Living Volunteer supported G to prepare to contact his

family who were delighted to hear from him! Malcolm said “I am so happy

now that I found them. They welcomed me with open arms. I am over the

moon.”Malcolm got to meet his brother, sister, and other family members and

been given precious childhood photos of his family that he had never seen.

Malcolm could contact his family whenever he wanted and saw them regularly

for weekends, holidays and Christmas. Sadly Malcolm died earlier this year and

all his family talked about the short and precious chance they had had to get to

know him at his funeral.

Vicci’s story

When Vicci was born doctors told her parents

‘not to expect anything’.

She attended a mainstream village primary

school and was not allowed on the school

photo because the headmaster said that, ‘Other

parents with disabled kids would think it’s OK to

send them here’.

She was not allowed to go outside at break or lunchtime unless her mum was

in the playground to supervise – her disability is mild hemiplegia, so her Mum

had to drive over to the school twice a day with my 2 year old brother (who

had a heart condition) in tow. Her presence in the playground was never

necessary.

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After briefly attending Special School Vicci got a place at Pates Grammar

School. She had some brilliant experiences like a gym teacher surreptitiously

incorporating her physio exercises into PE so nobody noticed she was different

In spite of having major brain surgery, she got 4 As at A-level and a 1st class

degree from Bath University, using a personal budget for support

She had to go to 14 interviews to get a work placement. She is now Managing

Director at PING, a user-led organisation for people with physical disabilities.