How Dance Can Help Boost Confidence & Self-Esteem

Towards the end of last month (November), Leonard Cheshire Cymru’s disability dance competition – Strictly Schools – completed its 2021 season with an Evening at the Ballet broadcast on BBC1 Wales as part of the BBC Children in Need Appeal show.

The programme was carried out this year by a range of passionate teachers and dancers, helping to make lasting differences in the lives of children with disabilities, with the project delivered through online tutorials, live classes and in-person learning.

The competition provided fun experiences for all, as well as learning opportunities, helping children to grow in confidence, learn new skills, strengthen friendships and improve their fitness and flexibility.

The charity’s Emma Wilcox said: “Delivering Strictly Schools has been empowering and inspiring from start to finish. Seeing the young people discover their confidence as they coproduce their routines has increased their independence and belief that they can achieve anything they put their minds to.

“This project uses dance to take young disabled people on a journey increasing their sense of self, enhancing their wellbeing whilst creating and developing friendships.”

Unlike those without disabilities, it can often be challenging for disabled people to join in with certain recreational activities – but adaptive dance and physically integrated dance provides them with an outlet to learn how to move and share their creativity and artistry, irrespective of their range of mobility.

Dance can also really help disabled people express themselves in ways they may not have thought possible – and it’s also a huge amount of fun, while helping students grow in confidence, develop communication skills and new techniques, and improving their motor skills at the same time.

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Govt Launches New National Disability Strategy

The government has published its new National Disability Strategy, setting out 100 immediate commitments to be made, supported by £1.6 billion in funding and an ambitious agenda for future reform.

It includes plans to upgrade job support and opportunities, as well as housing and transport, while improving accessibility of homes around the country. Some £300 million has also been set aside to support children with special educational needs and disabilities in schools, as well as an online work passport to help students move from education to the world of work.

The strategy also focuses on improving inclusion in the workplace, tackling the disability employment gap  – which is currently at 28.6 per cent – head on.

To ensure that disabled people are able to live in homes that have been adapted to their needs, action is now being taken to raise the accessibility requirements for new builds, as well as adapting existing homes to make changes such as installing downstairs bathrooms, fitting stairlifts, installing ramps and widening doors.

In addition, it will mandate that ten per cent of homes built through the £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Programme will be for supported housing.

Therese Coffee, work and pensions secretary, said: “The result of an unprecedented endeavour across government, this national strategy will help level up opportunity and improve the everyday experience of disabled people, whether that is at home; travelling on public transport; using the local high street or going online; enjoying culture, the arts or the great outdoors; and exercising civic roles like jury service and voting.”

This comes after the government also unveiled £30 million in funding to install Changing Places toilets in existing buildings across England, with the aim being to provide larger accessible toilets and equipment like hoists, curtains, space for carers and adult-sized changing benches.

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Intergenerational Housing Development Comes To York

A new council development in York in the offing is putting intergenerational living at its heart, with 85 new properties being built that could allow older people to live next door to younger members of their family, with 40 per cent of the homes set to be affordable and the remainder sold at market value.

According to Yorkshire Live, the properties will be built to passivhaus standards, with a focus on low carbon emissions. And it will be near to Applefields School for young people with special educational needs, with the hope being that the development will prove to be attractive to families with children at the school.

The plans also include traffic-free streets so children can play safely and shared alleyways at the back of the properties, so that residents can grow vegetables and eat together, with children spending more time outside.

A council report read: “These houses support two parts of a family to live together with independence. The two parts of the house contain everything needed to live as a separate household but with a connecting door to enable family support as circumstances require.

“This design supports our ambitions of enabling people to live well at home for as long as possible. Evidence suggests this is the best health and wellbeing outcome for individuals and families.”

Benefits of intergenerational living include stimulating learning for both young and older people, sharing skills, reducing age segregation and tackling big issues like social isolation and loneliness, which we know is a huge problem in the UK.

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National Strategy For Disabled People In Development

The Cabinet Office’s Disability Unit is currently working on developing a National Strategy for Disabled People, alongside charities, businesses, disabled people and government colleagues, with the aim being to ensure that everyone can be fully participating members of society.

The objectives of the strategy are to make practical changes to policies so that disabled people’s abilities to participate in society are strengthened, as well as to identify what matters most to disabled people and to develop a clear vision on disability that is owned across government.

It will be built on evidence and data, as well as insights from the personal experiences of disabled people themselves, including existing commitments (like increasing disability funding and supporting people to access careers advice, internships and so on), and identifying additional opportunities to make improvements elsewhere.

The Disability Unit said last week (April 2nd): “As the coronavirus pandemic is the current priority for the government, we are reviewing our plans for the development of the strategy.

“We want to ensure we have enough time to get this right and undertake a full and appropriate programme of stakeholder engagement.”

It also recently ensured disabled people that the government would be doing all it could to make sure their needs are addressed at this difficult time.

For example, there was cross-party support to see emergency legislation passed to allow the government to respond to the pandemic, which included measures to ensure that frontline services and support are maintained, especially for disabled and vulnerable people.

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UK Landmarks Show Support For Better Disability Access

Major landmarks across the country have thrown themselves behind a campaign to improve disability access in shops.

Among the sites that took part in Purple Tuesday last week (November 12^th) was Blackpool Tower, which was entirely lit up in purple, ITV News reported.

This was aimed at making more retail premises and businesses aware of the importance of improving access for disabled customers and clients.

A spokesperson for the campaign stated: “Purple Tuesday is about creating a step change improvement in the awareness of the value and needs of disabled customers. It is about making the customer experience accessible.”

This comes after findings revealed 75 per cent of disabled people have had to exit a store or stop using a website, as their disability has meant they have been unable to go ahead with the purchase due to poor customer service.

This is despite the Purple Pound, which represents the spending power of disabled people and families, reaching £249 billion in the UK and £2.25 trillion across the world. While this is rising by 14 per cent per year in Britain, fewer than one in ten global businesses target the disability market appropriately.

As well as Blackpool Tower, M&S has shown its commitment to the cause and recently ran its own campaign ‘Making Every day Accessible’. This involved it introducing a new ‘hard of hearing’ uniform, providing resources for staff, and running sensory-friendly shopping hours.

This demonstrates M&S’ pledge to become “the UK’s most accessible retailer”, having launched daywear for children with disabilities last year and introducing sunflower lanyards for kids with hidden disabilities, so staff can give them extra support when shopping.

As well as stores becoming more accessible, disabled people need to make improvements at home so they can enjoy freedom and independence in their own residence. Fitting inflatable bath lifts, for instance, allows them to bathe unaided, which is a much-desired privilege for many people with disabilities.

Survey Launched To Discover Truth Behind Disability Access

A survey has been launched to determine what disabled people think about access in public places and whether it has improved in the last year.

Euan’s Guide’s UK Access Survey has been established to support Disabled Access Day, which raises awareness of the need to improve disabled access in public areas.

“We’re asking what’s good and not so good about access at the places you visit. By taking part in this survey, you’ll be joining hundreds of other disabled people in having their say about access provision in the UK and beyond,” a spokesperson for Euan’s Guide stated.

Disabled people, as well as their friends and family, and those who work closely with them, can take part in the questionnaire, and four respondents will be randomly chosen to win a £25 Amazon voucher.

The public has been asked their opinions as part of the survey for the last five years, and more than 900 responded to last year’s questions.

In 2018, the survey revealed 94 per cent of respondents look for disabled access information about a venue before visiting; 88 per cent are more likely to go somewhere new if they can find information about disabled access beforehand; and 86 per cent of people had found disabled access information on a venue’s website misleading in the past.

It also revealed just one per cent of respondents are very confident about visiting new places, while six per cent are not confident at all.

To make your home as accessible as possible, consider fitting inflatable bath lifts in your bathroom to help you get in and out of the tub without extra assistance.

The Benefits Of Water Therapy Explained

Anyone above a certain age, or people with mobility issues and conditions like arthritis, could certainly benefit from engaging in some water therapy, treatments and exercises carried out in a pool for those who struggle with land-based activity.

This is an increasingly popular way for people to be treated or get some exercise, which they’d find hard to do otherwise. It can help relieve chronic pain symptoms, fibromyalgia, any discomfort you might be having while pregnant and so on, so can benefit a wide range of people – hence why it’s becoming more popular as time goes on.

Because the force of gravity lessens when you’re in water, there’s less pressure being put on your spine and joints. People also report finding it easier to move while in the water because the body is so buoyant, so water therapy is also brilliant for helping to build up muscle strength.

Benefits include better mobility and joint flexibility, better balance, core stabilisation, stress relief, postural awareness and – because it helps people move about and get some exercise – a sense of happiness and general wellbeing.

It can be incredibly frustrating for people to feel as though they’re stuck in their house with very limited options available to them in terms of exercise and moving around, but water therapy could really help give these people a new lease of life.

It might be worth looking into what’s going on in your local area to see if there are any clubs you could join if you are intrigued and want to give it a try.

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