Page 3 - Community Living Magazine 35-2

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Support should fit around what

Community Living
an individual wants, not vice versa

ISSN 0951-9815
Volume 35, no 2, winter 2022 n this issue, two articles focus on building better lives for people than those for which
they might seem predestined.
Published by I Les Scaife’s remarkable account of his son Brian’s life so far illustrates the extent to
CL Initiatives Ltd
Link-Ability, Conway House, Ackhurst Business which some parents will go to ensure their children can go on to lead independent and
Park, Chorley, Lancashire PR7 1NY fulfilled lives (pages 16-17). The family were determined from the start that Brian
would not be segregated into specialist services but should be in a position to pursue
 www.cl-initiatives.co.uk
 clienquiries@outlook.com his dreams, realise his talents and seize his opportunities.
t @CommLivingmag_ To do this, they embarked on an odyssey that took them from Surrey to Cornwall and
f www.facebook.com/ then to Lancashire to ensure their son could attend mainstream school as a child and
CommunityLivingMagazine
 01257 241899 stay clear of day centres and residential homes as an adult. This also involved mastering
the complexity of local authority funding so Brian could benefit from direct payments
Editor and other types of personalised budget to live an independent life.
Simon Jarrett, simonjarrett1@outlook.com
Furthermore, Les Scaife campaigned and worked to ensure that other families could
Publisher and subscription enquiries have the same opportunities. The results have been spectacular, and Brian has lived the
Jo Adshead, Link-Ability (address as above), life he has wanted to lead.
clienquiries@outlook.com
Of course, not all families
Production editor and designer can up sticks to move
Christy Lawrance, www.clcomms.com themselves to the best It is remarkable how often local
Research editor environment to achieve authorities can feel like the enemy,
Julie Ridley, reader in social policy and independence for their
practice, University of Central Lancashire leaning disabled relative. dampening expectations and aspirations,

Contributors Nor should they have to. talking only about limitation, deficit and
Photographs and interviews: Seán Kelly, It is remarkable how
www.seankellyphotos.com often in stories like this reasons why things cannot happen
Illustrator: Robin Meader, robinmeaderartist@
gmail.com, https://tinyurl.com/robinmeader local authorities, in
Legal: Belinda Schwehr LLM, legal framework particular social services
trainer and consultant, Care and Health Law, departments, can feel like the enemy, dampening expectations and aspirations, talking
belinda@careandhealthlaw.com
Welfare rights: Charlie Callanan only about limitation, deficit and reasons why things cannot happen.
Arts: Tracey Harding It is an indictment of the social care system that a family has to go to such great
History: Susanna Shapland lengths, mentally and physically, to achieve independence for one individual. While
Columnists: Simon Duffy, director, Centre for
Welfare Reform; Jan Walmsley, independent there are good councils and social workers, they can sometimes be hard to find.
researcher; Sara Pickard, disabled people’s Local authorities and their social workers as well as providers must learn to be open
employment champion, Welsh Government; to the unusual and to support that fits individuals, rather than individuals being
Suzanne Gale, social care consultant
pressured to fit into whatever support can be offered to them.
Editorial Board Our account by Amanda Topps of the Small Supports initiative (page 10) offers some
Jo Adshead, chief executive, Linkability hope that this sort of service might start to break through, particularly for those leaving
Helen Atherton, lecturer in nursing, University
of Leeds assessment and treatment units. This project is based on the premise that small, local
Noelle Blackman, chief executive, Respond organisations can meet people’s aspirations and ensure they have choice and control.
Jo Clare, consultant and coach, leading How nice if services like this become the norm, and families no longer have to uproot
Innovation and change
Debbie Forde, senior lecturer, School of Social themselves to escape the dead hand of social care bureaucracy.
Work, University of Central Lancashire
Isabelle Garnett A happy and creative new year
Simon Jarrett
Gill Levy Do we remember a thing called optimism? We know how awful the last two years have
Gabby Machell, chief executive, Learning been but, in these pages, we hope you will find a few reasons to feel a bit better about
Disability Network London (formerly the life and where it might take us in 2022.
Westminster Society)
Sue Pemberton, chief executive, Integrate As well as initiatives such as Small Supports and the life-affirming story of the Scaife
Lynne Tooze, independent sexual violence family, we have the extraordinary creativity of out interviewee Bobby Latheron, author,
adviser, Respond songwriter and playwright (pages 14-15).
Sally Warren, managing director, Paradigm demonstrated great ingenuity to secure funding for their work (page 26).
Jan Walmsley tells the story of the resourcefulness of self-advocacy groups who have
Cover image: Steven McDonald Photography Tel 01823 279008 (page 28) and, last but not least, we have the lockdown-inspired poetry of Phillip
Printed by
Character Graphics, Taunton,
Alix Lewer recounts how an inclusive choir has come through the pandemic stronger
Rackham and Sharon Russell (page 29).
© CL Initiatives Ltd 2022
Registered charity no 1141176
We hope all this gives you some cheer for the year, whatever lies ahead.
Company registered in England no 7530680
A happy new year to all our readers, contributors and supporters, and thank you for
sticking with us through some difficult times.
Editor

www.cl-initiatives.co.uk Simon Jarrett Community Living Vol 35 No 2 | Winter 2022 3