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Recent episodes
114 Housing Options Series – Main Street: Bring Your Own Independence
Moving into our own space is part of becoming an adult and embracing the independence that brings. In this new series on Housing Options I’m exploring some of the housing models that are available for people with additional needs. The series starts off with Main Street, an innovative project literally built from the ground up. Jillian Copeland the founder of Main Street talks about why Main street exists and its core values of affordable, inclusive, accessible living.
113 Grace Eyre Profile Series – How The Sum Of The Parts Makes The Whole
Solo episode this week where I talk about what I’ve learnt in the conversations I’ve had as part of the Grace Eyre Profile Series. This has been about acknowledging the past, celebrating the present and focusing on the future. Supporting our children towards a better future needs to be a joined up approach and this is why hearing from organizations like Grace Eyre who offer that more holistic support is a useful resource for all of us as we support our children on their journeys.
112 Grace Eyre Profile Series – Listening To The Voices That Matter Most
Everyone should have the right to decide their own future but too often people with additional needs simply aren’t given a voice. In this episode my two guests are Cleo Dibb, the Our Voices Manager and Jenny Good who was involved in the Rethink Disability campaign. Both are discussing the imperative of giving people the opportunity to share their lived experience, be listened to and be actively involved in all the decisions that impact on their lives.
Articles
Why without Visibility there will never be Real Awareness, Genuine Understanding and Actual Inclusion
When was the last time you met someone, and you really weren’t sure what to say or do? How did it make you feel? Confused? A bit fearful that you might say the wrong thing? Why did this happen? Was it because you didn’t really understand how to interact with this person? Was it because you had never met anyone like them before?
Start Early And Often
My ultimate objective is to get rid of my daughter. That’s not quite as bad as it sounds! My goal is to enable my youngest daughter to move out and live in a place of her own. When I have spoken on the podcast to people involved in training programs, one common theme has been that often the young people that come to them lack some of the basic daily living skills.
Why A Saturday Job Is So Valuable
What’s in a part time or Saturday job? An awful lot, I believe, if you’re a young person with additional needs. I should qualify that by acknowledging that for some young people there will be restrictions on the kind of jobs they can hold down because of the nature of their needs.
Our Focus
Young people with additional needs should have the opportunity to live independently in a way right for them. The podcast is about sharing stories and sharing solutions that enable parents and carers to support them on this path to greater independence.
Independence for most people consists of three things:
1) Having a Purpose for the day – usually paid employment, but possibly a place to go to make a contribution to the world.
2) Having the Daily Living skills for independence – being able to look after ourselves, cooking, shopping.
3) Having Relationships with family, friends and maybe even a partner one day.
There is also an additional consideration that serves as the foundation of all these – Financial Security. Like it or not money often dictates how we live our lives, and we need to confront the issue of how our children will survive financially when we are gone.
For more information visit redgiraffesolutions.com
All Episodes
111 Grace Eyre Profile Series – Let’s Work Together
Getting into paid employment is a major challenge for people with additional needs. Programs that support people to develop their employability skills and enable them to break down the barriers into work play an essential role. In this episode with Evie Halligan and Stuart Leaney we discuss the Work Buddy and Let’s Work Together projects run at Grace Eyre, how these operate, the challenges, the successes and why getting into paid work is so important
110 Grace Eyre Profile Series – The Travel Buddy Project – Getting Out And About
One of the core skills for an independent life is independent travel. At Grace Eyre the Travel Buddy Project focuses on supporting people to develop the confidence, self awareness and knowledge they need to travel independently. In this episode with Gary Cunningham, the Travel Buddy Team Leader, we are discussing exactly how the scheme works and the impact it has on increasing the opportunities
109 Grace Eyre Profile Series – Connections For Life
Social interactions are an essential part of being human, providing us with connections and often a purpose. In this episode with Jenny Good from the Friendship Group and Colleen Maytham and Mario Antoon from Active Lives we explore the ways to make and keep these connections and the increasingly important role of technology in helping bring people together to explore common interests and support each other.