Back to news listing

two young people, one is a wheelchair user, are sat smiling facing a camera on a tripod with the word DANCE on the wall behind them

Hillie in Action

Our View

Our View- reflections

Our View Project Manager Camilla Brueton has been busy following up one to ones with Project Officers and finding out how Our View has influenced individuals and organizations. She will continue this work in the Spring, undertaking one to ones with all Our View Project People, and will produce a series of case studies about Our View.

We believe that it has been fundamentally important to have deaf and disabled people at the heart of the programme and we are delighted to start to share the impact this has had;
“…by having Our View Core Group members attend Project Officer Group meetings, they were able to influence discussions and enabled Accentuate to take a more flexible approach.”  Accentuate Project Officer

“The process of working out how to make Our View accessible to a young person was challenging, but important - and led to a young disabled person being at the heart of the project.” Accentuate Project Officer

Our View- Project People

Our View Project Person, Hillie Thomason has completed her film for Campaign!  a project being delivered by Creative Junction.  We are really pleased to feature a blog from her about the experience on the Our View blog
http://www.accentuate-se.org.uk/our-view-blog?item=103&itemoffset=1

We have had lots of positive feedback about how as a young person, Hillie has benefitted from being part of Our View. It has created opportunities for her to meet successful disabled adults, attend meetings and events at high profile locations and experience being selected as the Our View Rep for her project.

“When Hillie was deciding how to wrap up the blog she said how confident she
feels now from being an Our View Rep; she recalled starting school and
not even talking, and now talking to anyone and wishing everyone to be
friends.”
Elaine Macey, project lead and support worker

Taking part in Campaign! and being the Our View Rep has shaped what Hillie Thomason would like to do in the future:

“I would like to teach children how to dance. I would like to show everyone what I can do – I can dance, be part of meetings, make films, and interview people”
Hillie Thomason

Our View- Core Group

The Our View Core Group has been busy promoting Accentuate and ensuring we are involved in important conversations.

Continuing our research into the media, Core Group member Colin Hambrook attended the “The Representation of Disabled People in an Age of Austerity” conference organised by MeCCSa Disability Studies. Research into how the media’s approach to disability and disabled people has shifted was presented, revealing hard evidence to back up the general consensus that attitudes have changed.

To read Colin’s full blog about the conference, the research findings and comments this has generated, please see the Our View Blog 

In January, when the Welfare Reform Bill was still going through the Commons, Core Group member Sarah Playforth and Project Manager Camilla Brueton attended a Welfare and Employment Conference, organised by GovKnow. The conference had a wide range of speakers including Neil Couling, Director of Benefit Strategy from DWP, Liz Sayce from RADAR, and Terry King OBE from The Princes Trust.

Liz Sayce presented research RADAR has done into disabled people’s careers, revealing a high rate of ‘in work poverty’ experienced by disabled people, and a low rate of disabled people who are Heads of Department/ Directors or Board Level Directors. Creating opportunities for disabled people to lead is something Accentuate has always believed passionately in and this conference provided much food for thought.

On the day, Sarah Playforth was quick to challenge speakers, and asked questions about the number of young disabled people involved in work placement schemes and the costly number of successful appeals against inaccurate decision-making within incapacity benefit assessment.

To find out more about the conference, see Sarah Playforth’s piece on the Our View Blog


Don't forget to check The Blog for news about Accentuate's activities


© Copyright 2009 by Screen South · copyright statement

Site by Surface Impression