Annual report

The annual report 2018-2019 takes a bird’s eye look at our work, and focuses on key areas that highlight our impact. Throughout 2018-2019 our main driver has been to enable disabled people and people with lived experience of mental health difficulties to lead ordinary lives. As you will see from reading the annual report, this approach underpins all of our work whether it be our Quality of Life programme, our work with the NHS or our leadership development work.

When we work across England we often meet people who simply think we are too “aspirational” or even naive. They look at us aghast, thinking that an individual is far too disabled or far too complex to live in their own home in an ordinary street. We understand that if people haven’t seen this work before it’s difficult to imagine it being possible, and we also understand that often a variety of factors can come together to make it increasingly difficult for a person to live independently in their own home. However, we also know through our experience what is possible for individuals and it is this drive for an ordinary life that flows through each piece of work.

In this annual report for 2018-2019, we have highlighted seven examples of our work to illustrate its breadth and impact. These examples include: our work in grassroots communities; work developing the potential of young disabled leaders; Quality of Life review work which drills down into people’s lives and the support services give them to unlock a life of equality and potential; work with the NHS to challenge and improve a system which still results in the premature deaths of people with learning disabilities; developing a series of stories which show what life can be like when you purchase your own support via a personal budget and research which aims to measure the impact of postural care on quality of life.

Across all of these examples the team has challenged discrimination and inequality and pushed for greater opportunities for people to be living ordinary lives.

If you are interested in the work we undertook in 2018-2019, please see the report below.

Latest

Monique's Story

Monique's choice at age 18 led to a life full of travel, sport and dance.
Capturing Ami's World
Ami's Story

Ami uses cosplay and fan fiction to defy the labels society places upon her.
Short Black n Sides

Our vision and values

Changing Our Lives is a rights-based organisation. We work alongside disabled people and people experiencing mental health difficulties, of all ages, as equal partners to find solutions to social injustice and health inequalities.
National postural care strategy

We all need to look after our posture. For some of us it's as simple as sitting up correctly at our computer. But for those of us who struggle to move our own bodies, for example if we have a complex disability, looking after our posture is even more important. If we don’t look after our posture, this can lead to debilitating health complications.
Mental Health People's Parliament

The People’s Parliament is a strategic body led by MPs with recent lived experience of mental health difficulties. Its function is to hold decision makers to account for improvements in services and supports so that people who experience mental health difficulties can have an improved quality of life and be in greater control of their own mental wellbeing. The Parliament is located in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, just outside Birmingham.
Where we work
Our brand
Safe places

The Safe Places scheme is based on the belief that everyone has the right to feel confident and safe going out in their local community. Lots of people feel unsafe at times in the local area; this might be because they have experienced crime or because they simply feel unsafe. For disabled people, older people and others who feel vulnerable this often means they don’t go out at all. The Safe Places scheme enables people to feel more confident, access their local areas more and know what to do.
Beth's Story

How Beth broke the mould around post-16 options by designing her own future.
Best practice
Katy's Story

No one's too disabled, or too affected by mental health difficulties, to lead an ordinary life.
Annual Programme

Our specialised team combines extensive experience, highly skilled and tenacious, professionals that are known for an innovative and outcomes based approach to practice and delivery.