The winners of the 2019 Recruitment Industry Disability Initiative (RIDI) Awards have been announced at an exclusive event in central London hosted by Paralympian gold medallist, Liz Johnson.
Launched in 2014, the RIDI Awards celebrate and showcase companies that are making progress in removing the barriers for disabled jobseekers.
PATH TO SUCCESS SPONSORED WHEELCHAIR TENNIS CHAMPIONS, JORDANNE WHILEY AND LUCY SHUKER, CELEBRATE DOUBLE TITLE SUCCESS AT BUSAN OPEN
British athletes, Jordanne Whiley and Lucy Shuker are celebrating double title success after sweeping the board in the women’s singles and doubles at the ITF 2 Busan Open over the weekend. The pair won the doubles title before Jordanne clinched the singles title in the first of three elite tournaments in Korea this month.
The Hill Care Group, which operates care homes across the north of England, has nominated Macmillan Cancer Support as their chosen charity for 2019/20.
After the announcement, the company collected £851.10 from raffle ticket sales at their annual conference, held at Cedar Court Hotel, in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
Managers from the group of 38 care homes attended the event and were asked to vote for the charity they want to support over the next 12 months.
A woman with learning difficulties, cerebral palsy and autism is now enjoying ‘a new life’ with a high degree of independence, thanks to the dedication of staff at her supported living service in Ryde on the Isle of Wight
When 33-year-old Sara moved to Copperfield House after many years in residential care, she was unused to doing anything for herself, but as soon as staff started supporting her to do more for herself, she took to it with great enthusiasm.
From being fed ‘whatever was on the menu’ Sara now takes great delight in preparing her own meals, especially her favourites - cauliflower cheese and macaroni cheese - which she will happily cook from scratch. She also enjoys shopping for the ingredients.
The Thames Chase Trust had great pleasure in welcoming the Rt Hon Michael Gove MP (Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and Julia Lopez MP (Hornchurch and Upminster) to the Thames Chase Forest Centre, the home of Thames Chase Community Forest.
The Board of Trustees shared and promoted the work of the Thames Chase Trust in managing the 40sq miles of the Community Forest and its Thames Chase Plan. Particular emphasis was placed on the importance of providing ‘access for all’ to the green environment and the relationship between the Thames Chase Plan and HM Government’s 25 Year Plan to ‘Improve the Environment’.
Staff at a residential care service in North Yorkshire reached new heights to raise almost £1,700 for charity when they conquered Yorkshire’s Three Peaks in support of the National Autistic Society.
Heathcotes Whitley specialises in residential support for individuals with autism, so the intrepid team had all the motivation they needed to take on the gruelling challenge in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. They completedPen-y-Ghent (summit 694 metres), Whernside (summit 736 metres) and Ingleborough (summit 723 metres) in a time of 11 hours and 40 minutes.
Services Manager, Hollie Longfield, said:
Tina Waltz is the Support Lead for The Roses, an Autism Accredited service run by Hightown Housing Association, providing supported living for people with Autism and Learning Disabilities. Tina has worked at the service since it opened 15 years ago.
Picture the scene. You see a man shouting. He’s with a woman who seems to be trying to calm him down. Are they a couple? Is she in danger? What should you do?
It can be a difficult decision but take a moment to assess the situation. Is the woman he is with supporting him?
In 2018 Sparsholt College in Hampshire became the 50thcentre to gain Accessibility Mark accreditation, with the aim of expanding its services to disabled riders.
Horse riding has many well-documented therapeutic benefits for disabled people but, as a recent study by RDA found out, it can also have a huge impact on the volunteers that support participants.
Full-time students undertaking one of the range of equine courses on offer at the college are actively encouraged to volunteer with the Accessibility Mark sessions that take place every week, to help build their portfolio and improve their employment skills.
Karl Levy, who has Asperger syndrome and dyslexia, is working as an apprentice operations analyst at Computershare’s city-based Leven House.
Computershare supports Karl with specialist equipment and training, while his co-workers are being taught how to communicate effectively with people with Asperger syndrome and dyslexia.
Mark McDougall, Global CIO at Computershare, said: “Computershare is an equal opportunities employer that takes its responsibility to nurture all talent extremely seriously, and we are delighted that Karl is progressing well.”
It was 10 years ago to the year, in 2009, when the UK government threw its weight behind the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). The ratification of the convention was met with thunderous applause in the disabled community, and was seen as the beginning of the end of outdated notions towards disability.
The UNCRPD marked a seismic shift in attitudes towards the disabled – at least on paper. The crux of the Convention was the re-focusing of disabled attitudes away from what is known as the “medical” view, to a more progressive social model.
Wheal Martyn Clay Works in St Austell has launched their first ever British Sign Language (BSL) tour, to help Deaf visitors that use BSL, to gain a deeper understanding of the clay mine’s unique history.
With over 50,000 people in the UK using BSL as their first language, English may be difficult for some to fully understand, so providing written information or using subtitles in films may not be enough. By producing a BSL guided tour, Wheal Martyn will help their Deaf visitors, to gain a better appreciation of the history of the site and become much more involved in their visit.
As the NHS Blood and Transplant service in England look to increase donor numbers by nearly 5,000 in February, a cord blood collection and storage company have released a guide to blood donations and collections to help raise awareness and encourage more people to donate.
Cord blood collection and storage company, www.smartcells.com choose to support several relevant awareness events throughout the year, using their expertise and influence to highlight the key messages of each campaign and encourage support from others where they can. This year they have created and released a Guide to Blood Donations and Collections to help build awareness.
Next month Stoke Mandeville Stadium is hosting the nationally renowned Inter Spinal Unit Games from 8-12 April 2019, organised by the national Charity for wheelchair sport, WheelPower to transform the lives of disabled people through sport. The highest number of spinal units and participants ever recorded are set to attend this year.
With many legal and technical barriers still in place across the EU, not a single Member State has ensured that elections are accessible to all, an EESC report finds
On 20 March, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) issued an information report presenting the full state of play when it comes to the right of persons with disabilities to vote in the European Parliament elections.
The report entitled "Real rights of persons with disabilities to vote in EP elections" shows that despite many binding legal documents protecting the rights of persons with disabilities in the EU, millions of them will not be able or allowed to cast their votes this spring, or may at least have difficulties to do so.
Bethesda, MD - The Center for Advancing Innovation (CAI), a global nonprofit that accelerates research commercialization, today launched THE BRAIN RACE, an open innovation contest to advance high-impact inventions and solutions to defeat brain tumors. With support from The Brain Tumour Charity and Resonance Philanthropies, THE BRAIN RACE will launch 15+ startups to commercialize promising drugs, devices, diagnostics, and digital health solutions to improve outcomes and survivorship for people with brain tumors. THE BRAIN RACE will also crowdsource ideas with the potential to improve quality of life for brain tumor survivors.
RDB Star Rating, an independently accredited ‘quality’ assessment company, is pleased to announce that the participating Lancashire care homes have once again achieved fantastic results for 2019. In the latest round of independent assessments they have all been awarded either 4 or 5 stars, which denotes good or excellent standards of care.
Susan Barr, registered manager at Bushell House, who participated in the scheme, said: “We really can’t thank RDB enough! This process assists us to constantly improve our service and is great for staff morale. We appreciate the independent view of the assessor and the affirmation of what we are doing well and pointers to help us in areas where we can improve.”
Nottingham City Council has launched a new campaign aimed at increasing the number of people with disabilities taking part in sport and leisure exercise and activities.
The council aims for Nottingham to become the fastest growing city for disability sports participation, and the new It’s for me campaign will raise awareness of leisure activities available to people with a disability or long-standing health conditions.
A North East-based not-for-profit has received a £10,000 grant from the Reece Foundation to help towards further development of a vocational training programme.
Blyth Star Enterprises, which provides living support, rehabilitation and day services for people living with mental health issues and or learning disabilities, has received the funding to put towards the expansion of its popular training programme at its Woodfuel Centre in South East Northumberland.
“The government can no longer provide short-term solutions to long-term problems”: Hft responds to lack of social care funding in the Spring Statement
Hft, a national charity that supports adults with learning disabilities, has expressed concern over the lack of funding proposals for social care in the Spring Statement.
People with medical conditions such as obesity and depression are more likely to suffer from poor sleep, according to The Sleep Council's Great British Bedtime Report*.
Of all the 5,000 people surveyed, 29% said they slept poorly most nights. But that figure shoots up to 45% for people who are obese and 53% for people with depression.
The conditions also have an impact on how much sleep an individual gets. On average, 41% of people survive on less than six hours a night, but for depression that jumps to 56%, and obesity 51%.
