Communication Matters is a UK-wide charity supporting people of all ages who find communication difficult because they have little or no speech. We are the UK chapter of the International Society of Augmentative and Alternative Communication. We aim to increase awareness and understanding of the needs of people who struggle to communicate.
Tobii Dynavox
As the world leader in eye tracking and AAC, Tobii Dynavox provides innovative speech-generating devices, special education and literacy solutions and alternative computer access methods. Our vision is a world where everyone, regardless of physical or cognitive ability, has a voice of their own.
NeuroPhysio Scotland
NeuroPhysio Scotland We help people improve their mobility and get more out of life. We specialise in physical rehabilitation for people with conditions like cerebral palsy. We provide personalised, encouraging physiotherapy treatment and the latest rehabilitation technologies. Progress towards an optimal level of physical function, mobility and fulfilment is always our goal.
Your Options Understood (YOU)
YOU have been established since 2015. The company name was set up by Dr Danielle Farrel who lives with cerebral palsy. YOU’s ethos is to give disabled people a voice and this is achieved through a range of services including advocacy, education, training, consultancy, person-centred planning support and self-directed support advice.
YOU have a range of national partner organisations who we work closely with on a regular basis one of those is the Scottish union of supported employment SUSE. We were awarded their award for outstanding contribution at their annual conference last year, this was specifically aimed at Dr Danielle Farrel’s role as their lived experience co-ordinator which involved recruiting a range of disabled people to their lived experience network and working closely with employers to increase their confidence in employing disabled people.
More recently YOU were awarded funding from the National Lottery Community Fund which is enabling us to extend our Dream, Plan, Live programme and offer person-centred planning support to disabled people and families across Ayrshire. YOU can also provide this support through other avenues and we look forward to being able to broaden your knowledge about person-centred planning, a modern approach to it and how you, your loved one or someone you support can access the dream, plan, live, programme as part of this year’s cerebral palsy conference.
Make people with cerebral palsy count – Cerebral Palsy Scotland’s election manifesto
With the general election to be held on 4 July, Cerebral Palsy Scotland is calling on candidates to pledge to improve services for people with cerebral palsy, as well as the data that underpins good service delivery.
There is no clear picture of who has cerebral palsy and where they live across Scotland and the UK, meaning that services cannot be well planned.
The lack of data on people with cerebral palsy directly contributes to the ‘cliff edge’ of care faced by children with cerebral palsy as they transition into adult services, and the lack of specialist healthcare services for adults with cerebral palsy.
Based on our participation work with the cerebral palsy community, our election manifesto contains four detailed asks of politicians that would improve services for the cerebral palsy community.
These include continuing to fund and expand the Cerebral Palsy Integrated Pathway (CPIP) database to cover all children in the UK and a call that the existing NICE guidelines for adults with cerebral palsy and those under 25 must be effectively implemented by healthcare providers.
Download our election manifesto
We will continue to raise these issues with candidates in the run up to the election, and beyond.
What you can do
We’re asking our supporters across the cerebral palsy community to bring Cerebral Palsy Scotland’s election manifesto to the attention of their local candidates and ask them to make people with cerebral palsy count by pledging their support to improve services and data.