|
New School Toolkit for Elhers Danlos Syndromes (EDS) and Joint Hypermobility Syndromes (JHS)
Sussex Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes and Hypermobility Support voluntary community group (SEDS) have helped developed a toolkit for educational professionals to help them understand how they can support children and young people with the conditions. The toolkit has had lots of input from people with EDS and JHS about what works for them and is a great resource available for free!
New eligibility criteria policy document for the Children with Disabilities Team
The new policy document sets out how support can be accessed via the specialist Children with Disabilities Service in West Sussex. It is designed for disabled children and young people aged 0-18, parents and carers, and professionals working with them, and will outline the criteria used by the Children with Disabilities Service in West Sussex when making decisions about whether to carry out an assessment, or to provide services.
|
Local Offer Snapshot
This month I got the opportunity to speak to Stuart (Operations Manager) and Andrew (Marketing Manager) at Out Of Bounds in Rustington. It was great to see their excellent facility as well as find out what they do to make their centre is as inclusive as possible. Have a read of our conversation below and if you have any ideas of how they can be even more inclusive then get in touch with Out of Bounds.
|
|
 |
What does your service do?
Andrew: Indoor and outdoor active activities for all ages.
Do you do anything to cater for people who have additional needs?
 |
|
Andrew: Everything has accessibility, so we make sure that all our activities can be used for people with motor disabilities or learning disabilities. For example, we had a chap who was unable to walk who we helped on to the Clip N Climb with a special harness.
The bowling as well we can move things out of the way and make sure there is space. The soft play area is great as well for people with learning disabilities, there is an age limit on it, meaning some older people with SEND who may want to go on it can’t at the moment.
|
We did use to do SEND days and events which we are looking at bringing back, but we are not quite there yet. We did do a one-off event with the compass card which was great, Marie at amaze is fantastic and we help with competitions and prizes sometimes. We do try to make everything is accessible to everyone as possible, because everyone deserves to have fun!
How long has Outbound Of Bounds been running?
Andrew: Since 2014.
Do you have a favourite activity to do here yourself?
|
Stuart: Mine would be golf. Anything that involves it is great so, the adventure golf, foot golf and then actual golf too.
Andrew: I'm scared of heights, so anything to do with heights I love because it’s safe which is the thing for me. It’s the idea of conquering my fear which I really enjoy because you don’t always get the chance to do that.
|
|
 |
What would you say maybe the most important thing you've learned from involving people from the SEND community in what you do?
Stuart: I think its awareness of accessibility and showcasing that we have our key areas that make it easy for people to come to the site and that they don’t have to worry about anything. So things like access to our activities and disabled toilets are all really important to me in my role.
Andrew: And from a personal perspective it’s all down to the people that run and organise Out of Bounds. The thing that hit me the most from the Compass Card event was people felt safe, and being an enabler to help people do what they said was to feel normal is something I really love that. If they feel safe for the event that is one thing but I want everyone to know that it is safe all the time and we are never judgemental, any customer that wants to be that way needs to know it is not our ethos here. That for me is the main point.
Do offer any discounts or concessions for people with additional needs and their carers?
Andrew: Compass Card and Max Card, definitely. As well as some carers cards, which you can find out more about on our website.
For my last question, if people need to find out more about what you do where is a good place to get more information?
Andrew: We have tons of great information on our website. Lots of people often want different questions answered so I would always recommend messaging social media (Facebook or Instagram) and someone will get back to you, this normally takes a day or less. Weekends can sometimes take longer to respond as we can be very busy.
It is a really good way to get in touch as we can give bespoke answers and sometimes peoples questions can help inform our policies and how we operate. For people with additional needs it's also a great way to get in touch to answer any particular questions, for example we had someone ask if they would be able to access the mini golf in their wheelchair. I went out and measured the tightest part of the course with a tape measure and sent the customer a picture to let them arrive and play the course with confidence.
 
|
