View from the Chair

23rd July 2010

Hello and welcome to my latest blog.

I'm sorry that it's been over a month since my last blog but so much has been going on at work, home and at WDP.As those of you who know me can imagine, Disability Awareness Day (DAD) has virtually taken over my entire life outside of work, except for the occasional sleep; but it was worth the effort. "A magnificent event that really makes a difference" were the words used by Cheshire's Lord Lieutenant David Briggs MBE when he described the event. Twenty eight thousand visitors poured into Walton Gardens last Sunday (11th July) to celebrate our 19th annual event. In addition to over five thousand people who attended the eleven supporting events that were held during the week prior to DAD. An amazing thirty three thousand people joined us at DAD events this year! Guests from Nachod in the Czech Republic joined us at the launch event held in the Golden Square on Saturday 3rd. During the following week many of the DAD Team put in over 100 hours of voluntary work at the park or back in the office at the Centre for Independent Living. Day by day the event site took shape and by Friday it was all but complete ready for Sunday's finale. As I looked across the vast site I suddenly thought about the words used by Kevin Cosner in the film Field of Dreams. I think they went something like "you build it and they will come". The film was about a farmer, who had a dream to build a baseball pitch on his farm. On its completion ghosts of former baseball stars and his father played on his field. For just a few moments I thought how the same words could be said in relation to DAD; our team builds the event site and they, the exhibitors and the public come in their thousands.

Included in this year's line up were Shaun and his team from Kent Scuba and Scubability. The team included my good friend Ron, whom Pam and I had met whilst on holiday in Egypt last year. I mentioned Ron in one of my previous blogs; he was really supportive in getting me in to scuba diving. After a 5.30am start DAD was a huge success (read the full story), helped in part by fantastic weather and a great team of volunteer stewards and assistants aptly named DAD's Army. During the day I managed to speak to dozens of visitors and exhibitors who had travelled from across the North West and wider UK each with their own reasons why they were visiting DAD, incredibly some for the 19th time. One described at as a pilgrimage. As Cheshire Cadets hit the final note of their display in the main arena and the last words were sung in the Arts Marquee it was clear to see that we had had the busiest day in the nineteen year history of DAD and we had achieved what we set out to do, which was to provide an event that would promote what was available to support disabled people and their families throughout life and work, highlight sports and arts, and to create an atmosphere of a "can do culture".

A conversation I had over the weekend reinforce this view when the mother of a young man who participated in the ScubAbility pool explained that he has severe Autism which effects his communication. She expressed her thanks to Shaun's team who had taken time to encourage him to kit up and join them in the pool. She explained that they took the time to identify the best way of communicating what he needed to do so he could see and breathe safely underwater. She said that she was overwhelmed to see him swimming virtually independently. She thanked us for giving her son the opportunity to try scuba diving and she said she was now considering finding a local club. As I put down the phone I was in tears, as everything she said underlined what DAD stands for; the creation of an event that provides disabled people with opportunities to see what's available and to try it in a safe environment without embarrassment. It's fair to say that as we reflect back on DAD 2010 I am feeling very anxious about the future; as a huge part of Walton Hall Gardens is due to be sold off for redevelopment which might reduce the common ground needed to hold the event, and funding will no doubt become harder as the financial crisis hits our sponsors and more importantly our principal sponsors the North West Development Agency will be dismantled and replaced by a new organisation. In the meantime we will celebrate our success and take on each issue as they arise.

With DAD behind us for a few months and before we start planning next year's 20th anniversary event my attention has been focussed on work, WDP and home life. Last Thursday evening I joined my colleagues from the Equality Diversity and Inclusion Unit at the Trusts annual staff recognition awards held in Huyton. It was a great night that was topped off when we were awarded runner up in the promoting positive attitudes section, but we were all ecstatic when our colleague Bernie was awarded the winner for service user and carer involvement. The refurbishments at the Centre for Independent Living are coming along nicely; the bathroom display area in the equipment showrooms is looking fantastic and earlier this week Fairview Windows started the installation of our new conservatory. I would like to say a very big thank you to David Jones for his support.

Nationally it was bitterly disappointing to see that news headlines at the weekend carried several stories about the cuts being felt by thousands of charities across the UK. This was something that I highlighted several months ago but it seems to be a much bigger problem than I first thought. Interestingly this is happening at the very same time the government is introducing the "big society" that promotes community empowerment and volunteering. More disappointing was the article I read about a Manchester based bus company that had apologised to a passenger who was a wheelchair user after the driver refused to manually operate the ramp to assist her to get off the bus. I have always said that negative attitudes create bigger barriers than any physical obstacle. I would suggest that the company concerned follows the example set by Warrington Borough Transport who engaged with WDP to establish disability awareness training for its entire staff.

Finally for this blog I would like to congratulate my colleague Emma and her communications team at 5 Boroughs for the excellent "sticks and stones" campaign that is challenging the stigma caused by the inappropriate language sometimes used to describe mental health service users. Over 13,000 supporters have so far signed up to the campaign, including several big celebrities and sports stars.

Until next time, thank you for your interest.