Whizz-Kidz, Family Planning Association and the Children's Trust, Tadworth are shorlisted in the Disability Category for the Charity Awards 2010.

FPA (Family Planning Association)

Improving people’s sexual health through modern technology

Some people get into a fluster if someone so much as mentions the three-letter word, let alone discusses it at length; however the Family Planning Association is trying to
tackle the issue head-on.

Now in its eightieth year, with a staff of 69 and an annual income of just under £4m, FPA has been at the forefront of Britain’s perceived taboo subject, most recently through tackling the discrimination and isolation that young people with learning disabilities face.

A three-year research project in Northern Ireland found that many young people with learning disabilities lead lonely lives, and that they and their families and carers were highly critical of the dearth of resources on sexual health and
relationships for them.

So FPA launched a project to address the problem and the result was a visual and interactive CD-ROM entitled All About Us, which aimed to provide such support and information in an easy-to-use and fun format.

Since publication All About Us has sold over 1,200 copies and a second print run has been ordered to meet demand. Qualitative evaluation from people with learning disabilities,
family carers and practitioners has been 100 per cent positive and several other countries have bought and translated the resource. Now FPA is fundraising to adapt it to include British Sign Language.
 

All About Us recently won a Silver Award for Excellence in the
E-learning Awards 2009.

The Children’s Trust, Tadworth

Rehabilitating children with brain injuries

Each year in the UK at least 5,000 children and young people will sustain a head injury that will lead to a serious impairment. The Children’s Trust provides care, education and therapy to children with multiple disabilities and complex health needs as well as rehabilitation to children
with acquired brain injuries.

The Trust’s new £7m, state of-the-art rehabilitation centre
and hydrotherapy pool, opened in July 2009, has enabled the Trust to increase the number of beds and provide a modern home-from-home with all the specialist equipment
needed by the children. It includes single en-suite bedrooms, communal living areas, quiet spaces and family
accommodation. The addition of a hydrotherapy centre to the project brought the total costs to over £7m, which had to be raised entirely from voluntary income. This was a huge
challenge for the Trust’s fundraising team, as the previous biggest building project was £2.8m.

The funding for the centre was achieved ahead of time and children moved into the new building in April 2009 as the Trust began celebrations for its 25th anniversary. The fundraising team secured a record number of corporate partnerships including official charity for the 2009 London
Marathon. The team exceeded budget finishing the year with an income of £6.2m – just under
a 22 per cent increase.

Whizz-Kidz

Giving independence back to children in wheelchairs

Ensuring children do not miss out on their childhood due to a disability has always been Whizz-Kidz’ main priority, yet an estimated 70,000 disabled children do not have a wheelchair appropriate to their needs.

Every year Whizz-Kidz receives applications for powered or
lightweight manual wheelchairs from families with disabled children all over the country, and 2009 saw the charity implement four new partnerships to deliver wheelchairs
across London and the South East, in order to reduce the NHS waiting list time, which was averaging two years.

It did this via a four-pronged strategy, which involved securing policy commitments and increased funding from central government; establishing several new partnerships
with NHS bodies; reshaping the supply chain; and developing a roadmap for transforming wheelchair
provision in England.

Since developing the strategy in 2009 the charity has achieved four new NHS partnerships and is in talks regarding ten more; 40-50 per cent discounts on equipment orders; and a 20-fold increase in the numbers of children accessing powered mobility through the NHS in areas served by Whizz-Kidz/NHS partnerships.

“We have virtually eradicated the NHS waiting list for mobility equipment where we have a partnership,” says the charity’s director of communications, Mark Robertson. “And we have increased the number of children receiving equipment from us by 30 per cent, helping more children in
2009 than in any other year in the charity’s history.”

One parent of a disabled child sums up the charity’s impact on families’ lives: “I can now walk side-by-side
with my son and hold his hand. I never thought I’d see that day.”