Getting Out There

Josh Burns grins, takes a deep breath, and takes his first tentative step onto an ice rink standing in the shadow of the twin biomes of Cornwall’s famous Eden Project. Minutes later he lets go of a friend’s hand and is flying round the ice.

Like many 14-year-olds, Josh is game for anything and eager to try new experiences. But, unlike most teenagers, he faces an uncertain future: he has Norrie syndrome, a rare genetic illness that has left him blind. Yet he is enjoying a range of activities, from ice-skating to surfing, fishing and chocolate-tasting, thanks to an innovative project that aims to end the bitter social isolation disabilities can bring.

Get Out There (GOT), is a pioneering group for young people aged 11 to 19 in Cornwall with visual impairment and significant additional needs, including deafblindness. Run by Sense, a charity focused on deafblindness, the project aims to break down the barriers that prevent young people from accessing leisure activities – and help them try new activities, make new friends and gain a sense of independence.

The pilot, commissioned by Cornwall County Council, was only set up eight months ago, following two successful open days at theme parks in the county. With funding from a variety of sources, it provides regular activities and events for visually impaired young people who would otherwise have no life outside school or home. The project is already being hailed as an excellent example of a project that meets the government’s “Aiming High” policy, launched in May 2007 with a view to improving the lives of disabled children.

Josh is just one of the young people whose lives have been totally transformed by the project. During the week, he boards at the West of England school in Exeter, travelling back to his home in Carbis Bay, near St Ives, at the weekend. He says: “GOT has made quite a lot of difference to my life and given me a whole load of new experiences. I used to get bored and just had my friends from school. Now I have got new friends and we get to suggest the activities. It is a lot of fun.”

His 15-year-old brother Sam, who is blind and has additional medical needs, also enjoys the freedom the project brings. Their grandmother Gayle Fowle says: “The boys ask us all the time ‘Are we going out today?’ The project has opened up a whole new world for them. And, for the first time, they have friends outside school.”

Such friendships are critical, says project co-ordinator Simon Allison, who noticed two years ago that young visually impaired people with multiple needs faced social exclusion. Having a daughter with restricted vision made him aware of the potential for problems. However, it was through his work as an intervener (interpreter) for pupils at the West of England school that he became aware of the isolation faced by youngsters at weekends.

“It was clear that the kids were fine at school but that was it. The rest of the time they were being passed over or easily ignored. Working with a couple of parents, we set up the open days, which proved to be very successful.”

The group now has 20 volunteers, who help at events attended by around 12 children, mostly teenagers. Activities are suggested by the young people themselves, who are eager to try anything from surfing to abseiling. Past events include a trip on the “Hagrid Express”, a train journey complete with owls as passengers during which Harry Potter stories are read aloud, while future visits include a trip to a Thorntons chocolate shop and a two-night stay at an outdoor pursuits camp.

Requests

“We work at making everything accessible,” says Allison. “At the moment we are trying to organise a visit to the Isles of Scilly, because that is what the young people have requested. We take a calculated risk. Abseiling was done in wheelchairs and was very successful. Places either reject us or do everything they can to accommodate us.” The group is now waiting to hear what funding will be available for the next 12 months. However it is already being held up as a beacon of good practice.

Sustainability is key, according to Christine Lenehan, chairwoman of the Council for Disabled Children, who describes GOT as a “simple idea that is long-term and sustainable”. She spends much of her time travelling around the UK looking at the services different local authorities are providing for disabled children. While she has found many have plans to give young disabled people more opportunities, she admits work on the Aiming High agenda has been slightly marginalised by the focus on safeguarding.

“We agree protection is a priority. Local authorities are rightly concerned with safeguarding. But the message for older young people is that they need to take risks – because if you don’t take risks as a young person you won’t take risks as an adult.

“We want to be clear that Aiming High is not a three-year programme that ends in 2011, but something that should deliver lasting change in a way that is sustainable. We don’t want to see services that are good stop next year. It takes a whole range of people to deliver change.”

Web links

Council for Disabled Children: ncb.org.uk

Sense: sense.org.uk

Aiming High: tinyurl.com/y9qpasw