annual review 2014-15

Life beyond barriers

We work with over 200 partners in the voluntary, statutory and private sectors

Safia’s mum had a difficult time giving birth. For a while Safia didn’t get enough oxygen and this affected the way her brain and body works.

Her dad gave up work to look after her. By the time Safia was three her parents realised that they needed some help.

They came to AoD with very little idea of what was available.

Our benefits officer asked lots of questions about Safia’s condition and their family circumstances and helped them fill in an application for Disability Living Allowance.

AoD put them in touch with ParentsActive who supported them to argue for extra classroom support in a mainstream school.

They got an extra £76.90 per week to cover the extra costs of supporting a disabled child and this meant they could apply for extra tax credits.

We worked on 238 cases securing families over £842k per year in benefits

Action on Disability (AoD) is led by disabled people and works across London.

For this year's annual review we decided to illustrate our work through the life of one fictional woman, Safia. Her life reflects the experiences of some of the 4,500 people we meet and work with each year.

When Safia was four, she was offered a place at a school for children with Special Educational Needs. Her parents visited and thought it looked lovely and active but they wanted Safia to go to the same school as her older brother.

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At four and three quarters Safia held her big brother’s hand as she went into school.

Safia enjoyed school but when she was 11 her Dad went back to work she had to be bussed too and from school every day.

She didn’t get to chat with her friends after school or join in the clubs because she had to be on time for the bus.

She got lonely and wondered if her friends thought she was boring because she never did anything in the holidays.

Safia sat in the corner with her eyes wide open thinking she would never be able to join in. The staff encouraged her to try new things and asked Jethro to look after her.

Safia heard that the AoD Youth service ran all sorts of activities for disabled children, she pestered her parents about it and they said she could join.

Her first day was scary, the children were loud and dancing about.

He had a wheelchair with flashing lights on the wheels, he showed her round and introduced her to people.

Over 45 disabled and non-disabled young people took part in our new inclusive arts project

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119 young disabled people participated in sports this year including archery, football and athletics. Some went on to compete across London

Over the years Safia tried pretty much everything: circus skills, canoeing, puppet making. She learnt about healthy eating and sexual health. She started to support other young people, became a volunteer and achieved her silver Duke of Edinburgh award.

Safia was encouraged to think about her future, what sort of work did she want to do? Volunteering as a youth worker was ok but she really wanted to work with food so she was supported to volunteer at a local lunch club for older people.

They were recruiting people for an internship, they explained to Safia that she would work in three different jobs in one year at St George’s Hospital.

Plus she could do a college course at the same time.

Safia struggled a bit with college once she left school. Learning things in the classroom was difficult for her. At the same time she began to think that she was a bit old for the youth scheme. So, they referred her to AoD’s Employment service.

When young people join our Youth Service we ask about their likes and dislikes, what they need help with and their ambitions for the future

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We supported disabled adults to get over £292k per year in benefits they were entitled to and secured over £57k of backdated payments

A volunteer form filler helped her with the claim. She was a bit shocked when her claim was refused but the benefits officer knew the decision was wrong and managed to get it overturned.

She signed up and found that learning on the job was much easier for her. All her supervisors praised her attention to detail and commitment to the job. The catering manager decided to give her a part-time job.

She went back to AoD for advice. The benefits officer helped her calculate her new salary and work out what benefits she was entitled to.

Our IT volunteers supported over 50 to learn new skills, shop online and keep in touch using IT

In her spare time Safia joined AoD’s IT Peer Support group.

The disabled trainer showed her how to use email and shop online. He understood her fear of computers and showed her some software that would help with her spelling. After working for a few months Safia moved out into her own flat. The place had a warden but for the first time Safia could do her own thing.

After a year the hospital had to cut her hours at work. Safia was very worried about her rent and bills.

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Eight volunteers supported people to fill in benefit forms and attended work capability assessments and tribunals with people.

Across AoD our volunteers contributed over 7000 hours last year.

Now that she did not have to worry about money she could get down to hunting for a full time job. AoD employment staff helped her to look at her options explaining that it would be easier for Safia to show her cooking skills than talk about them in an interview.

She wrote to lots of big hotels that AoD had been working with explaining how she loved working with food and telling them about all her experience. She got a call from a manager who liked her letter.

She explained that she did not do very well in interviews and asked if she could come and show him what she could do.

He agreed, and when he saw her work he offered her a job on the spot. She was glad to come off benefits.

We supported 50 disabled people into paid jobs, most well above minimum wage.

Our success rate is over 70%

After a few years Safia found she could not move around as easily as she used to. With support from AoD she talked to her employer and they accepted that she could sit down to work and did not have to do heavy lifting.

At home she found getting in and out of the bath difficult and finally she slipped and hurt herself.

The council did not agree with her that she needed a wet room instead of a bath. She started to look for somewhere else to live.

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We supported 177 people to have their voice heard, understand their rights and challenge service providers

To read our Chair and CEO reports of the year please visit our website: www.actionondisability.org.uk

Our full accounts are available on the Charity Commission website: www.charitycommission.gov.uk

Then she remembered AoD, she met with an Advocate who helped her appeal the decision using medical evidence.

After a few months, they agreed to get the work done. Now she did not have to worry about accidents at home.

After a few more years Safia’s health got worse and she decided to go back to part time work. She found a job closer to home and just 20 hours a week. Her health improved but Safia was a bit bored and got fed up being at home five days a week.

AoD reminded her about the Peer Support project, at first she thought “I don’t need support” but the co-ordinator persuaded her to give it a go. When she got involved she realised she was the one giving the support, she shared her experiences about work, leaving home and getting help when you need it.

She started bringing in cakes to share and then asked if members could use the kitchens at AoD to start a baking club. She notices a lot more AoD staff are around the office on baking club days.

AoD is led by disabled people and our Peer Support service harnesses their expertise and experience to run IT, Human Rights, Health & Wellbeing and Knitting groups

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Money in Income by source (%)

LBHF contracts

Lottery funding

Access to Work

Trusts/foundations

Fees/earned income

Fundraising & events

2013/14

35.8

10.4

3.1

15.8

30.8

1.9

100.0

2014/15

37.9

13.3

2.3

9.7

35.2

1.5

100.0

Youth Service

Employment

Advocacy

Welfare benefits

Peer Support

Independent Living

Access to Work

Fundraising

2013/14

33.5

28.0

10.1

9.0

3.5

11.6

1.3

3.0

100.0

2014/15

36.0

30.5

9.0

9.3

3.4

8.2

1.9

1.4

100.0

Money out Expenditure by service (%)

Finance and Funding

Life beyond barriers Patron: Baroness Rosalie Wilkins

Action on Disability Greswell Street London SW6 6PX

T: 020 7471 8510 F: 020 7610 9786 www.actionondisability.org.uk info@actionondisability.org.uk

ActiononD @ActiononD

Charity no. 1091518 Company no. 4237604

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London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham

Baily Thomas Charitable Fund

Dr Edward & Bishop King’s Fulham Charity

Duke of Edinburgh’s Award

The Daisy Trust

Remploy

Desta

Access to Work

Contracts and earned income

Grant funding