VoiceAbility’s Role with NCS
During the life of the NCS project, VoiceAbility was available to support NCS groups
in the Catch22 consortium to ensure the programme was truly inclusive to young
people with additional needs, working mainly with cohorts in Newcastle, Suffolk and
Essex. We did this by:

Developing links with special schools: This has been essential for the
successful integration of young people with disabilities into the NCS
programme. VoiceAbility made the initial links with schools, then visited them
with NCS staff to talk to Year 11 and sixth form classes, and show them the
film made in 2011. VoiceAbility kept in contact with key members of staff in
schools, providing them with support and information about NCS as
required. It proved important to establish from the outset a good relationship
with them, as they then acted as champions to promote NCS in their schools
and among parents.

Getting parents on board: Teachers, parents and the young people
themselves then have to be convinced that they will be supported
appropriately to take part. VoiceAbility having direct contact with them at a
parents’ evening made all the difference.
Parents appreciated having the contact details of a disability specialist at
VoiceAbility, so they could ask very specific questions about aspects of the
programme. It could be thought that the parent of any child would want to do
this, but it is much more vital for parents of disabled young people, especially
if their child has never spent a night away from home before.

Specialist Advice and Problem Solving for NCS staff: Projects were
supported by VoiceAbility to visit young people at home, so they could talk to
parents and carers about their individual needs. This helped identify the
trigger points that one young person has, which can lead to challenging
behaviours. It proved easy for staff to avoid getting into situations which could
trigger this behaviour, after following advice from VoiceAbility.
In several instances specialist advice was sought from us to ensure people
with certain conditions could participate. For example, staff initially felt one
person with a diabetic pump would not be able to participate, as the
instructions for the pump sounded too complicated to manage. After talking to
a disability specialist at VoiceAbility they were reassured that this was not the
case.

Inclusion of Disabled Participants: VoiceAbility supported NCS projects to
raise the awareness of non disabled group members to the needs of their
disabled peers. At our suggestion, this was done in ways which did not single
out certain individuals, and was guided by the disabled members
themselves. For example, in several groups at the start of the programme,
everyone gave a short presentation about themselves. They had the brief to
give one piece of information about what they find difficult, so that phobias
and dislikes were discussed in the same way as cerebral palsy and learning
disability.
VoiceAbility gave advice about appropriate activities for ice breaker sessions,
so they were as equally inclusive to disabled participants as to their nondisabled peers. This helped ensure everyone was fully integrated into the
groups from the very beginning. Subsequently VoiceAbility was on hand to
give advice about making sure all programmed activities were accessible to
everyone, in terms of both physical access and any written materials used.