Aright to friendship?Challenging the barriers to friendship for people with disabilities

celebrating 60 years

Friendship is so important to us allThe opportunity to make and maintain friendships is essential for people with disabilities in the same way it is for anyone else. Yet disabled people, including people who are deafblind, can face a series of barriers – many practical, some more complex– and this can have a profound impact on people’s lives.

Imagine a life without friends, particularly close friends. Perhaps if you are disabled or deafblind, it won’t be too hard to imagine. Many people tell us that life can be lonely.Overcoming the barriers and creating opportunities for friendship needs to be a crucial part of support for disabled people.Sense is setting out to explore the terrain of friendship for disabled and deafblind people in 2015 – investigating the issues, creating a debate and looking for solutions.Friendships are deeply personal and impact on people in different ways and we realise that addressing the issues of friendships for disabled people is complex.We want to bring together experiences, learning, good practice, insights and create a head of steam that puts friendship right at the heart of support for disabled people.We don’t have all the answers yet. But we do have some of them and you can read about innovative projects and good practice in this report. Keep an eye on ‘We all Need Friends’– it’s a campaign that will grow to make a difference.

Gillian Morbey, Chief Executive, Sense

… is Sense’s 60th anniversary campaign looking at overcoming the barriers faced by people with disabilities in making and sustaining friendships.We are calling for a national debate

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around friendship and disability, given that many disabled people face being cut off from societywith one in four disabled people feeling lonely on a typical day.

We will also explore what opportunities there are for disabled people to meet people, profile good practice, engage with stakeholders and look to raise public awareness, as well as highlight individual stories from the people we support.

Sense is a national charity supporting and campaigning for people who are deafblind and those with sensory impairments

A right to opportunity for friendshipOur friendships are among the most valuable relationships we have. We gain in various ways from different friendships and without friendships, people of all ages suffer.Friendships also form one of the foundations of our ability to cope with the problems that life throws at us. Research has shown that friendship provides an emotional support network in times of crisis, boosts happiness and reduces stress, improves self-confidence and is an essential partof a healthy lifestyle.1

So when people with disabilities, including those who are deafblind, say they want friendships but experience considerable difficulties in making and maintaining them – and that can really impact on their lives in a profound way – we need to think about that.Sense believes disabled people should have the same opportunity as everyone else to make and sustain those friendships. Tackling this issue is something we cannot ignore – both on an individual level but also on a wider societal level.

We asked just over 1000 people with a range of disabilities about their experiences of friendship. From the number of friends they haveto the barriers and challenges that they face in maintaining friendships. We also looked at the particular obstacles facing people who are deafblind and make some recommendations for change.

Six per cent of disabled people have no friends at all

More than half (53 per cent)think that as a disabled person thereare more barriers to making and keeping friends – rising to over three quarters(77 per cent) for young disabled people aged 18-34

Over half of disabled people (53 per cent) report feeling lonely, rising to 77 per cent for young people

Almost one in four(23 per cent ) say that theGovernment’s recent changes towelfare benefits and eligibility for social care have made it harder for them to

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make and sustain friendships

Almost one quarter(23 per cent) say they feel quiteor very lonely on a typical day

Friendship, 1004 people with disabilities, Sense/Opinium, Jan 2015

1 http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/adult-health/in-depth/friendships/art-20044860?pg=1

What is friendship?There are many different definitions of friendship. Friendship is defined as: relationship, friendly relationship, close relationship, attachment, mutual attachment, alliance, association, close association, bond, tie, link, union.2 (The Oxford Dictionary) Shared values and interests play an important role (De Vries, Dustan, and Wiebe (1994)3, as does frequent contact reciprocity and positive impact (Nussbaum (1993).Friendships are vital for a child’s development and research has found that children who lack friends are more likely to have emotional and mental health difficulties later in life.4 For children born with sensory impairments, building up trust and confidence, making contact and communicating with others, and expressing themselves can be very difficult. Many deafblind children also have complex needs and additional health problems as well. Having the opportunity to make and stay in contact with friends can be challenging.Similarly, many adults who are deafblind struggle to get enough social care support to enable them to live independently, have a social life and keep in touch with friends. Older people, who lose their sight and hearing in later life, are also significantly at risk of becoming socially isolated and lonely.From Sense’s perspective, friendship includes the preference of spending time or sharing activities with one person over another. This can include at school or work and can be taking part in activities as well as hobbies. The commonality of these settings is that contact between people is consistent, takes place over a long time and that mutual contact allows people to distinguish the preferred people who eventually become friends.

How many people are affected?The Office of Disability Issues estimated that there are 11.65

million disabled people in the UK. Of this group, 5.7 million are adults of working age, 5.1 million are over state pension age and 0.8 million are children6. There are 1.6 million in the UK witha communication impairment7. This figure includes those who are deafblind or havea dual sensory impairment.Our survey showed that 23% of disabled people reported being lonely on a typical day and6% have no friends.Nearly one in three respondents reported seeing friends once a month or less. For people whomay well also struggle to get together with family or to have access to work and so have colleagues, this may well feel quite isolating.Combined with recent research suggesting one fifth (21%) of 18 – 34 year olds admit that they have actually avoided talking to a disabled person because

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they weren’t sure how to communicate with them, we believe the isolation of disabled people and the obstacles they face in making friends needs to be tackled as a matter of urgency8.

2 http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/friend3 http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/R_Adams_Definitions_2000.pdf4 http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fy5455 https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/321594/disability-prevalence.pdf6 Ibid7 Ibid8 http://www.scope.org.uk/Scope/media/Images/Publication%20Directory/Current-attitudes-towards-disabled-people.pdf?ext=.pdf

What are the barriers?There has been extensive analysis around tackling loneliness amongst older people who are regarded as particularly vulnerable to social isolation and loneliness owing to loss of friends and family, mobility or income. In contrast, many people with disabilities told us that they do not have the same opportunities to establish friendships in the first place.In particular, many young people with disabilities describe their lives being tainted with the experiences of isolation, loneliness and exclusion. Lack of appropriate support such as transport, personal assistance, and support to facilitate and/or interpret communication are major obstacles. For people with disabilities who have sensory impairments and additional disabilities, makinga friend, interacting and communicating with others, and the ability to get out and about, is often difficult.People who are deafblind and sensory impaired tell us of particular barriers they face, including:• a lack of communication support to enable a person to meet up with friends• problems with mobility and being able to get out and about• lack of access to college or work• not enough understanding amongst support workers and/or care

professionals in how to support friendship for a person with a sensory impairment

• lack of understanding from others in how to communicate with them.

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Sue Turner lives in Essex and has two adult sons who are deafblind – Ben and Luke.Ben is deaf and partially sighted. Luke is deafblind and in a wheelchair. He also has scoliosisand quadriplegia. They both have learning disabilities. For people with complex disabilities,friendship can be a greater challenge.

Sue says, “My son Ben has never had a true friend of his own. Friendship is about a mutual exchange, both people need to benefit and for Ben finding that is incredibly hard, because he has no speech and uses sign language to communicate.”

Ben enjoys a range of activities and has been part of a wide range of groups; from bowling to evenings at the pub. Ben is a very friendly and sociable person and has been known to take the initiative and approach people in the pub and sign his name. He also has a job working in an office. Ben lives with another deafblind person and has 24 hour support. He is close to his support workers and often enjoys their company, keeping in touch with them when he stays with family.

Sue says, “Ben probably does view his support workers as his friends, but they aren’t really. They are paid staff and they do a terrific job. But obviously they do move on. It’s really important that staff are trained in how to facilitate friendships.”

Opportunities for friendship sometimes need a helping hand

At an event, a Sense care worker recognised two profoundly disabled people – both deafblind without any formal communication and with learning disabilities – sitting on opposite sides of the room who she happened to know had been at school together many years before. She suggested to their

carers that they sit them together, on the off chance they might recognise each other. They touched each other’s faces and within moments there were scenes of great joyful reunion. They remembered their old friend from 15 years previously.

And yet, without someone recognising them and putting them together, a moment of friendship would have been completely lost. This emphasises the importance of placing friendship at the heart of support for disabled people – without that support, the two old friends would have completely missed each other.

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The impact of lack of friendshipsPeople who are unable to make and maintain friendships risk becoming socially isolated and lonely. Six per cent of those that replied to the Sense survey reported having no friends. And 53 per cent said they felt lonely all, some or most of the time. Research has shown that this can have a serious impact on a person’s health and emotional wellbeing.

Facts on loneliness and social isolation in the UK from theCampaign to End Loneliness

The Campaign to End Loneliness is a coalition of organisations, including Sense, and individuals working together through research, policy, campaigning and innovationto combat loneliness and inspire individuals to keep connected in older age in the UK.

17 per cent of older people are in contact with family, friends and neighbours less than once a week and 11 per cent are in contact less than once a month (Victor et al, 2003).

Fifty-nine per cent of adults aged over 52 who report poor health say they feel lonely some of the time or often, compared to 21 per cent who say they are in excellent health (Beaumont, 2013) – demonstrating the correlation between poor health/ disability and loneliness in older people at least.

Over half (51 per cent) of all people aged 75 and over live alone (ONS, 2010).

A higher percentage of women than men report feeling lonely some of the time or often (Beaumont, 2013)

Loneliness and social isolation are harmful to our health: research shows that lacking social connections is as damaging to our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day(Holt-Lunstad, 2010).

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What do people say would make the difference?The survey asked about what would help make a difference to people with disabilities in making and maintaining friendships. The findings showed that:

One in sixpeople with disabilities said that local support and social groups would make a difference

Two in fivepeople with disabilities said that being able to get out and about more would enable them to see friends more often

One in fourpeople with disabilities said that more opportunities to meet people would help

One in fivepeople with disabilities said more accessible transport would help them meet up with friends more

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Ian Capon, 52, lives on the Isle of Wight and was born with congenital rubella syndrome, which left him deaf and partially sighted. He is unable to work due to his health issues and relies on his voluntary work and particularly his involvement with the local Sense forum to maintain a circle of friends.

Ian, who lives on his own, says: “I went to a boarding school for the partially sighted in Exeter. So once I left school I came home to nobody really as my friends were at boarding school and then they were all over the country so I never saw them.

“Apart from my family, the only people I know really are the people I do voluntary work with. The Sense forum gives me a chance to meet with similar people but I would like more friends who have the same interests as me – record collecting, photography, IT.

“I think it has got better for me over time only because I decided to get out there and do things. It would have been easy for me to sit and do nothing and you can’t do that really.

“For disabled people generally, I think it depends on your disability, what your background is, how you survive. For some groups of people I’d say it has got harder rather than easier. For me, it’s difficult – very often communication is one of the key problems for deafblind people when they

are trying to make friends.”

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Overcoming the barriersSo how can we start to overcome the barriers and create opportunities for disabled people to make and maintain friendships? Disabled people have told us about the logistical barriers to friendship, and many of them could have quite simple solutions. The impact of lack of friendships on an individual’s health and wellbeing has cost implications for health and social care services. Investment is needed to ensurethat voluntary organisations can help to support the development and sustaining of friendships and improve the quality of life of people with disabilities, reducing dependence on more costly services.

Social careGiven that 44 per cent of those surveyed stated ‘being able to get out and about’ was one of the biggest challenges to making and maintaining friendships, adequate access to social care is keyto supporting deafblind and disabled people with friendship. We know that many adults who are deafblind or have sensory impairments struggle to get enough social care support to have a social life and keep in touch with friends. Older people, who lose their sight and hearing in later life,are also significantly at risk of becoming socially isolated and lonely.A recent survey carried out of deafblind people revealed that one in five do not receive any social care support and 50 per cent have never been properly assessed for social care support9. Without the right support from social care it is incredibly difficult for deafblind people to have a social life and see friends. In our survey, almost one in four said that the Government’s recent changes to welfare benefits and eligibility for social care have made it harder for them to make and sustain friendships.The Care Act (2014) – which from April 2015 will be implemented by Local Authorities – has the potential to tackle some of these issues that relate to social care and people being provided withthe right support. The eligibility criteria for care and support under the Act, includes ‘developing and maintaining family or other relationships’. This should ensure that more is done to support disabled people in building and maintaining friendships.We hope that this legislation brings a shift in culture towards the importance of friendship as avital part of a disabled person’s health and well-being, which is highlighted in service provision and person centred reviews. In this way, more can be done to support people with disabilities to follow their preferred interests, make friends, increase in confidence and develop skills for independence.Whilst commissioners must recognise that there is not one single intervention that will help people to sustain friendships, we have outlined in this report a range of services and interventions that can help people to establish friends and how services can best respond to this issue. They can be grouped into one-to-one interventions, group services and wider community engagement.

Support to get together

We know that a lack of accessible transport is a major barrier to getting out and about in the community with more than one in five disabled people (22 percent) citing more accessible transport as a factor that would help them make friends. Assuming a disabled person has managed to find accessible transport and/or a communicator guide or other support, what kind of social event or activity might make the difference? Many disabled people told us that they do not need or want special activities or clubs. They want to participate in ordinary mainstream activities and welcome the opportunity to meet with each other in order to share their mutual experiences. However for others, their disability affects them in ways that make it difficult for them to be active or socialise without some support, or they may want to get together with other people with similar disabilities. Whilst many people wanted to be welcomed in mainstream activities alongside non-disabled young people, others attributed positive value to the existence of clubs and holiday schemes for groups of disabled people.9 Fair Care for the Future, Sense 2012 11

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Janice Tillett, 43, lives in Northampton with her husband and eight year old daughter Mary-Elizabeth. She was born with a visual impairment which deteriorated and she then discovered she had a hearing impairment. Janice is now completely blind but is able touse bone anchor hearing aids to enable her to have some hearing.

Janice used to work, but now spends much of her time volunteering for local charities and campaigning. She has several good friends, but would like the opportunity to socialise more and has found that there are lots of barriers to friendship.

She says: “Going for a coffee and meeting up with friends can be hard. If you need to arrange transport well in advance you can’t be spontaneous. You need to arrive at a set time and leave at a set time. If I’m having a good time, I can’t stay longer if my taxi has come to pick me up.”

Janice receives support to help her care for Mary-Elizabeth, but has in the past found it challenging to socialise with other parents.

“When I had my daughter it was hard for me at mother and baby groups. They often layout the chairs in a semicircle and I would find myself stuck right on the end with my support worker between me and the other mums. That would make it hard to talk to them and

make friends.”

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How could statutory services help?In our survey, one in five disabled people said that more opportunities to meet people would help. One in six said that the expansion of local support and social groups would make a difference. That’s the equivalent of more than two million disabled people whose chance of friendship could greatly increase if there were local opportunities and groups created with and for them.Sense believes that there needs to be an expansion of services to support friendships for disabled adults. A broader range of interventions should be made available whether it is buddying with a volunteer for younger disabled adults, social prescribing (to support group activity) or practical assistance with transport (transport buddying) to get out in the community.To date, traditional befriending and social prescribing schemes have been targeted at older people experiencing loneliness rather than younger disabled adults wanting support for friendships.For some disabled people, these schemes are seen as old fashioned (a service for older people)and are particularly alienating for many younger disabled adults.Traditional befriending schemes need to be re-modelled to meet the needs of younger people and adults with disabilities. With a ‘buddying’ scheme, people with disabilities can be matched with a volunteer who shares that person’s interests. They can follow their preferred interests, gain increased confidence, get out and about in their local community and gain vital skills towards independence and above all, socialise and make friends. The volunteers themselves gain frombuddying scheme in equal measure. As well as the enjoyment of working alongside young disabled people and adults, volunteers broaden their experience and skills, and see this as a vital link towards career development, which can significantly improve their employment prospects.For many disabled young people and adults, friendships more easily emerge from activities that are focused on developing or supporting a shared interest rather than those that focus overtly on friendship formation. Groups coming together for shared hobbies or interests, through socialprescribing schemes, would provide a natural building ground for the development of relationships based on a common interest; and placing such valued relationships in the mainstream allows barriers to be broken down as enjoyment and positive relationships become visible.

Best practice – Get Out There

‘Get Out There’ is a Sense service based in Cornwall for young people with little or no sight or hearing. Many of the young people in the group have additional needs such as epilepsy, diabetes, autism, hearing impairments, communication difficulties and limited mobility.The group provides opportunities for the young people to access a wide range of activities. These include theme park visits, train rides, discos,

surfing, ice skating, horse riding, power boating and drama.Simon Allison, the group’s co-ordinator, said: “Having sight and hearing difficulties and additional complex needs such as epilepsy, diabetes, autism, communication difficulties and limited mobility can prevent young people from accessing leisure activities. Our aim is to give these young people the opportunity to make new friends, try something new and, above all, to have fun.”

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Hayley Reed, who lives in Rossendale in Lancashire, has had a hearing problem since the age of 10 and lost her sight 12 years ago. She has also been a wheelchair user for 24 years. She campaigns and support several charities, including Sense, but doesn’t see friends in person very often.

She says: “It’s awfully hard to make friends. I see friends once a month which helps but sometimes you might have had a bad day and just wanted to talk to somebody. When you’ve got a disability, it’s just not that easy. And that’s why the Sense forum has formed such a tight friendship because we’re there for each other. The friends I have, I have mainly met through Sense.”

Hayley, 45, receives 18 and a half hours of social care support each week, however, that only covers the minimum of getting dressed and preparing food.

“My direct payments don’t pay for support at night so I do find it very isolating. If we got more support for social type activities then it might be easier. That would be a big help.

“At night, families are worried about people going out because they’re vulnerable or they can’t get there because they don’t have support.”

Other obstacles Hayley faces are living in a rural community and the difficulties of communicating with other people with sight and

hearing impairments.

“It’s a valley and it’s isolating anyway but there’s not that many deafblind people. We’ve got a few deaf people but not deafblind so I’ve had to go outside of my own area to find

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friends. I can’t use sign language, and I can’t go out at night because I can’t see particularly well. Also a lot of clubs locally are in inaccessible buildings so I can’t go.

“I’ve got a physical disability as well as the sight and hearing loss but the sensory impairments take over from the physical as they’re very isolating. When you’ve got all three, it puts another barrier up.”

Hayley, who lives on her own, uses Skype and the internet to keep in touch with friends and keeps active by taking on voluntary work in the community.

“As a younger person friendship is a really important issue for me. If you go to social events, you are left out a little bit because people don’t fully understand how to communicate with you or they think they have to shout at you. In my case, it just echoes in my ear and becomes distorted. I do voluntary work that helps me to get out of the house and stop me getting depressed.

“The support network is really important. That’s where a lot of people get let down with a dual sensory impairment as there’s often no-one in their community with the same disability. They are very much isolated.”

Support deafblind people’s need for friendshipsPeople who are deafblind and sensory impaired and their families need a variety of social care, benefits and support from their local authority in order to be able to feel part of their local community and to live as independently as possible. This support is also vital for making and maintaining friendships.For example:

a specialist assessment from their local authority to determine the amount and correct type of support they needcommunicator guides, who offer guiding skills, practical help and communication support– such as meeting friends and family respite care and short term breaksopportunity to meet with others and take part in activities that might otherwise be inaccessible like sport or arts and drama.

Examples of good practice include:ensuring that friendship maps are part of person centred plansmatching disabled people interests with more opportunities to enjoy hobbies/activities in their local communitiesproviding support to see friends outside regular planned activities

such as day services being more open to working with other providers to pool resources and facilitiesjointly provide many more opportunities for disabled people to come together and enjoy a variety of experiences and activities.

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Best practice – performing arts

Sense drama and theatre programmes provide performing arts training, workshops and performance opportunities for children, young people and adults with sensory impairments and other disabilities.We work with mainstream and inclusive theatre companies and practitioners to deliver each of our programmes. Everyone comes together in a fun, creative and inclusive environment.As well, we are passionate about sensory theatre and performance and we support artists with multi-sensory impairments to be innovative, imaginative and challenging in all the work they create.“It’s the best activity I can go to. I like acting. I like pretending to be someone different, something else.”Hazel

Older peopleOlder people with sensory loss can be among the loneliest members of society, and aren’t always provided with the support they need to adapt to their changing sight and hearing.Research demonstrates what a problem this is: it is estimated that there will be 489,000 older people with dual sensory loss by 2030. Many of us know older people who don’t hear or see so well. This is a real concern not just for people with sight and hearing loss themselves, but for their families and society as a whole.Dual sensory loss can be frustrating, leaving people depressed, angry or withdrawn. At some point in their lives many older people with sensory loss become socially and emotionally isolated, struggling to see and keep in contact with friends. As Johnson and Troll (1994) suggest, worsening health anda lack of mobility can make it increasingly difficult for older people to keep in touch with friends.10

Communication is an important part of building relationships, and older people with sensory loss often have limited means of making themselves heard. When people with dual sensory loss become older, these feelings of isolation are exacerbated.When it comes to helping older people with dual sensory loss the sooner we can help prevent feelings of isolation, the better. But research shows nearly one in five11 deafblind people receive no social care at all, often reporting problems with mental wellbeing as they grow more isolated.Though lack of support from the medical and care professions can be damaging, alienation from friends and even family can cause a profound sense of loneliness. There are many initiatives to alleviate loneliness among people who are deaf or blind, but often they cannot cater for the needs of deafblind people, who might struggle to use a helpline without specialist equipment.

10 http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/R_Adams_Definitions_2000.pdf11 Fair Care for the Future

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Best practice – social prescribing

The Rotherham Social Prescribing Service helps people with long term health conditions to access a wide variety of services and activities provided by voluntary organisations and community groups in Rotherham.Social prescribing is part of a wider initiative in Rotherham known as case management. Funded by the NHS Clinical Commissioning Group in Rotherham, the case management scheme brings together health, social care and voluntary sector professionals, who work together in a co-ordinated way to plan care for people with long term health conditions. This joint working is known as integrated case management. GPs lead case management teams and are responsible for identifying patients who are eligible for the scheme.Ashley Court Resource Centre provides services for people who are deafblind or have a sensory impairment with additional disabilities. People with sensory impairments and other disabilities – especially older people – are at risk of becoming isolated and depressed. Outcomes are increased self-confidence, new friendships, increasing well being and reduced social isolation.The members of the group have been referred through social prescribing via their GP. This is where an individual is prescribed an activity or support to improve a conditionor emerging health problem. This includes mental health and wellbeing.The Ashley Court Arts group was one of 26 voluntary groups that received funding for31 separate social prescribing services which supported over 1,500 vulnerable individuals. Sheffield Hallam University carried out a study on participants in the project by analysing local health data found that in the group of people that the projects were supporting:

In-patient admissions reduce by 21% in a year.

Accident and emergency attendances dropped by 20%. People who attended the group said:“We give each other advice and I have a lot more friends.”“While I’m concentrating on the artwork, I’m not thinking about anything else.” “Life can get so boring because I don’t go out because of my problems. I try to, butit got so hard I got to the point where I couldn’t be bothered. I love coming to this group, it motivates me to get out. As soon as the group is over, I’m looking forward to next Wednesday again.”“This group has done me a world of good, I don’t feel suicidal anymore.” “If the group was not here, then I

wouldn’t be here!!”“I don’t feel alone any more.”

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Providing opportunities for friendshipProviding opportunities to meet with others with similar interests is vital to support deafblind and disabled people in developing friendships. There are lots of good examples from a wide range of organisations of programmes that deliver thiskind of support.

Best practice – friendship

Age UK runs Friendship Centres around the country for older people to attend. A Friendship Centre is a group of active older people who meet on a regular basis for social activities which could include rambling, Tenpin Bowling, pub lunches, theatre visits, holidaysand days out.Stay Up Late is a charity that runs a number of schemes to provide people with learning disabilities the opportunity to go to gigs, music festivals or clubbing. They match people with volunteers who go with them to events in the evening.GoodGym combines keeping fit with volunteering. Through either running in a group or carrying out one-off missions volunteers complete physical tasks that benefit the community, for example doing errands for or visiting those who are isolated or lonely.Each year Sense organises around 25 week-long Summer Holidays for more than 100 children, young people and adults who are deafblind. From camping to cosy cottages, and canal boats to city breaks, each holiday gives them the chance to have fun and try new experiences and meet with other deafblind people, forging new friendships, as below.

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SolutionsMany disabled and deafblind people struggle to make and keep in touch with friends. There are many factors that contribute to this problem but a lack of opportunity is an overarching theme. Whether it’s the chance to meet up with friends or to meet like minded people and form friendships there is a general lack of opportunities for disabled people.Although there are examples of good practice for supporting deafblind and disabled people with friendship there is much more that can be done.Sense is calling for a range of solutions to help improve the opportunities for people with disabilities to make friends, including:

Local authorities to commission more services that support the establishment and maintenance of friendships for people with disabilities, such as ‘buddying schemes’ for individuals and social prescribing schemes for groups.Local authorities, social care providers and local organisations to provide disabled people with increased opportunities to meet with others – both disabled and non-disabled – with similar interests.Care providers that support people with disabilities living in supported accommodation and residential care homes to place greater priority on supporting people to maximise their opportunities for friendship and to be a visible part of their local community.Different providers that support disabled people to pool their resources and facilities locally to maximise opportunities for disabled people to come together and establish friendships.Public education to help inform the general public about disability and the challenges faced by disabled people.Greater promotion of asset based approaches such as time credits that create more opportunities for volunteers in the local community and people with disabilities to spend time together with shared activities (for example programmes run by SPICE).Entertainment and social venues to provide better access for disabled visitors.Younger people need more support to make and keep touch with school friends and enjoy relevant activities that give them the opportunity for friendship.Local authorities in small towns and rural areas need better solutions to

accessible transport. This report is part of a year long campaign at Sense on friendships. We welcome any views,ideas or good practice in this area. Please get in touch at friendship@sense.org.uk.

About SenseSense is a national charity that supports and campaigns for children and adults who have sensory impairments and complex needs. We provide tailored support, advice and informationto individuals, their families, carers and the professionals who work with them.

We believe that each person has the right to choose the support and lifestyle that is right for them; one that takes into account their long-term hopes and aspirations. Our specialist services enable each individual to live as independently as possible, offering a range of housing, educational and leisure opportunities.

celebrating 60 years

Sense101 Pentonville RoadLondon N1 9LG0300 330 9256Email:

info@sense.org.uk

www.sense.org.ukRegistered charity number 289868

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