The Rebuilding of Enabling Commu

As members of Local Communities, we need to empower ourselves. We have All Party, Central Government backing, but have to demonstrate how things can be done better, with less prejudice and less disabling consequences. There has never been a better opportunity for pooling resources and cooperative action, between various disability groups, carer groups, voluntary agencies, individuals & professionals. Even with budget cuts, we can organise and provide many services for ourselves cheaper.

To do this, people with all kinds of difficulties and backgrounds need to work together and bring others, less able, along with us. We really do have the power to bring about these changes, but must work together. We need to bury our differences and unify our collective objectives. We should not be 'competing' for the services and funds. We can rebuild our Communities and provide many services under our direct, local supervision, cutting out much bureaucracy and more effective use of the funds available. Fear drive how services are provided at present.

I am seeking to set up at least two 'model' community projects of this kind: One in Trowbridge and the other in Marlborough, Wiltshire. I will be seeking support for the projects from local and international business operations, existing Voluntary, Charitable Organisations, and Interested Individuals (Friends) in the general Wiltshire area. These resources will be developed along the lines of 'Therapeutic Communities'. The Rules will be developed from (and will constitutionally adhere to) the International Declarations and Treaties on Human Rights and Disability Rights.

The Rules, Principles and Objectives:
No Abuse, Prejudice, or Disempowerment of the users of the services, of any kind, will be tolerated, by any user of the service, or those engaged to support it. There will be a Majority Representation on the Board, of those who are entitled to the kinds of services that are brought under its umbrella; the balance being Carers, Funding Provider's, participating Volunteers and seconded, or employed Professionals. Priority will be given to those with a disability of any kind. It will be further supported by volunteers with disabilities of any kind, or degree.

The organisation will be non-profit making and will co-operate with all other voluntary, chartable and commercial operations that adhere to the same principles, common objectives and high standards. Its objective will be 'enabling', with users of the services contributing to their own and others support, to the level of their capability. The Umbrella Organisation will seek to provide common resources and support individuals in obtaining their own direct services. Control of the personal services will remain with the individual, whatever part we play in helping organise them.

The primary concerns of the organisation will be: the quality of the support relationships and services provided; the Health & Safety aspects of the resources; the Accessibility for all kinds and levels of disability; and the Social Safety & Security of those being provided Support and Care (above and beyond clearances for criminal proceedings). By the general nature of the service, Volunteers and Workers with some criminal histories are permitted, with an open declaration and supervised as necessary.

‘No Shame No Blame’ is a fundamental principle for practice. Not everyone gets on with everybody and mistakes can be made. Any direct personal support will be with the expressed agreement of anyone being provided it. In all other services, every effort will be made to meet requests that are not 'prejudicial', or 'disabling' in character. The quality of the physical environment will be only second to these principle concerns and will be addressed in the best interests of the users of the services. How pretty is secondary to how accessible and enabling.

Who are we?:
Your Choice' has been involved in setting up small, local, 'nursery' support networks, and providing counselling, advocacy and advice, in Somerset & Wilshire for over 15 years. It is the repository of the collective knowledge and experiences of many people (some anonymous) facing serious disabling & socially disempowering experiences in Wiltshire, Somerset, North Somerset, Warwickshire and London Boroughs of Harrow, Ealing & Brent. These small initiatives formed the basis for the VisitWeb, a 'Your Choice' initiative. Those involved work within and in cooperation with, other organisations.

The Operational Name for the Umbrella Organisation in Wiltshire will be Your Choice Wiltshire, with the subsidiaries of Your Choice Trowbridge and Your Choice Marlborough, and so on. Once the local operations are properly set up, they will have their own Operating Constitution, compatible with the Constitution of the Umbrella Organisation, but will otherwise be providing services of a type and quality, primarily determined by the 'local' users of those services, and policed by them. There are key people in Trowbridge and Marlborough, who will make an initiating contribution.

What we need from you:
At this stage we are looking for people with expertise, knowledge, experience, enthusiasm, skills and useful contacts, who will join us to enable this project to get started and continue to flourish. The initial objective is to set up a County Wide Conference for people with any disability, or disabling social problems. We place no restrictions, other than a determined commitment to enabling that all people can become empowered and self-reliant as possible (with the help to this end).

The intention must be to support people to run their own show and encourage 'self-advocacy' and direct representation. To that end we welcome the help from people affected by any disabling circumstances. The pool of skills, knowledge and experience of those disadvantaged in many ways, are frequently undervalued and untapped. We will seek to enable those who wish to participate, but who will require assistance in doing this. There will be a Standing Committee of all people with disabilities, who will set their own Agenda and invite the statutory agencies to participate with us.

We also seek to obtain adequate local buildings, needed to provide opportunities for 'shared' services. These would include general meeting facilities, training facilities, lunch club / cafe, activity spaces and resources necessary to support both 'out-reach' to others and 'in-reach' by others (including professionals attending for service user's benefit). We are great believers in borrowing, sharing and making reciprocal arrangements, maximising the use of available resources. These would be buildings, transport, equipment and human resources.

How these 'Central Hubs' are obtained and how they are resourced, is not as critical as their appropriateness to provide good, whole day, evening and some night time availability, with safe access and support for all people using these resources. If there was facility for emergency 'shelter' provision, this would be all the better. We are not looking for new, or 'fancy', but safe, secure and accessible. All operations will be run by Service User and other Volunteers, with seconded and employed professional involvement.

We are not concerned with 'owning', but with some reasonable security of tenure and least imposition on the local community and ourselves. Wheelchair, Transport and Disability access is essential. These resources will be sought and provided to every locality, large and small, throughout Wiltshire. The internet, Assistive Technology, IT the Mobile Phone technology will be central these services, allowing for the least intrusion into peoples lives and the maximum communication and security.