Young Disabled PeopleSYMPSONS ( Sheffield Youth Mentoring & Personal Support scheme)It's important that young disabled people aged between 14 and 16 begin to experience independence in their lives and learn the skills that are necessary to work with a personal assistant. Other areas of the UK (such as Bristol ) have introduced schemes that allow young disabled people to request their own personal assistance and support. ILS has monitored the outcomes of these projects; the benefits for young people and service providers appear to be significant. Services for young people are rarely developed to meet the needs they have identified. ILS has consulted with young disabled people (and their parents and carers) to find out what they think is essential for young people to become more independent. The SYMPSONS initiative is designed to:
SYMPSONS Project StagesStage 1 Consultation Disabled young people (14 to 16) and their parents and carers will be engaged in a consultation exercise between January and March 2005 to find out what processes they feel would be most appropriate to help disabled young people achieve some independence, choice and control. A Consultant will be appointed to: 1) Work with a group of five disabled young people and over three meetings • Find out what the young people would like to do that at the moment they cannot do; • Find out what barriers the young people think prevents them from having choice; • Describe potential mentoring activities and a personal assistance scheme and find out if these are seen as having the potential to reduce barriers; • Establish criteria to guide development of the scheme. 2) Hold one focus group with a group of ten parents/carers that explores the issues described above. The first stage of this project was completed in March 2005. A report was written at the completion of stage 1 as copy of which can be downloaded here. Downloadable Documents
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Stage 2 Writing a Proposal and Seeking Funding A written proposal and the seeking of funding is ongoing. Stage 3 Implementing the Proposal Everybody involved in the SYMPSONS project are committed to it continuation, as soon as news about the future of the project becomes available we will post it here. If you want to know more about SYMPSONS, Please contact us We'd be delighted to help.
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