Projects

Working Successfully with My Personal Assistant

Do you receive a Direct Payment or Personal Budget to pay a PA (Personal Assistant) to support you to live independently, or do you pay for this support yourself?

If so, come along to one of our courses across East Sussex and gain skills and confidence in employing and working with PAs. You will also identify areas for personal development that will increase your confidence and skills as an employer.

Course 1: Employment Law

  • Learn more about your legal responsibilities as a small employer, including Contracts, Health and Safety and Discrimination Law.
  • Discuss Terms and Conditions of employment, including holidays, sickness, pensions and pay.
  • Learn where to find advice and resources to support you
  • Share contract-related issues in your own PA employment situation

Course 2: Working and Communicating with my PA

  • Identify what communication with your staff involves and the pitfalls
  • Share and discuss a wide range of situations (sticky moments) which can happen when employing PAs, and identify ways of resolving them successfully.
  • Consider a range of methods to manage staff more effectively.
  • Develop a list of “best practice” tips for successfully managing your PAs

Course 3: Recruiting PAs

  • Understand how to prepare a clear Job Description and Person Specification, and what barriers may limit the number and quality of applicants
  • Explore the most effective ways to advertise a PA job opportunity, and particularly what the advertisement needs to contain
  • Learn about good practice when interviewing PA applicants
  • Increase your confidence to successfully recruit and retain good PA staff, using the best recruitment methods for a home based situation.

All courses are free to attend and tea, coffee and a light lunch will be provided.

All venues are fully accessible and are close to public transport links. Assistance with travel expenses, including car parking charges, communication and other access needs can be provided.

Course Dates and How to Book

Places are limited so book now!!

To book your place, please register online by clicking on the links below.  You can also download the course brochure and the booking form here.

If you cannot attend a course in your area and the other courses are too far for you to travel to, or you have any difficulty with course timings, please get in touch.  We may be able to assist you in another way.

** Please Note **

You must either have completed Course 1 of this programme or received equivalent up-to-date training in employment law before attending Course 2 or 3.

Seaford

All courses will be held at St James’ Trust, The Clubhouse, 11 Blatchington Road, Seaford BN25 2AB.

Eastbourne

All courses will be held at Age UK East Sussex, Faraday House, 1 Faraday Close, Eastbourne BN22 9BH.

Hastings

All courses will be held at Muriel Matters House
1 Bredes Place, Hastings TN34 3UY.

What Course Participants Say                 

  • “I met other people in a similar situation to me, managing their own PAs. Sometimes you think it’s only happening to you.It’s a relief to know that you’re not the only one.My confidence has now increased too”.
  • “Identifying employment issues and "sticky moments", just meeting others and sharing problems” was really helpful.
  • “I found it useful to know about barriers and how to overcome them”.

For further information or an informal chat about these courses, please get in touch using the following contact details:

By phone

  • Bookings and course information: Theresa Hodge 0333 5779874
  • Course programme: Andrew Bruce 01323 761763

By SMS Text

07967 622405

By e-mail

[email protected]

By post

Disability Inclusion CIC, 6 Trinity Street, Hastings, East Sussex TN34 1HG

Solutions to Finding and Keeping PAs

This one-day event is being organised by Disability Inclusion on behalf of the East Sussex Direct Payments Peer Support Group.

The event will focus on the challenges and solutions for people using Direct Payments or Personal Health Budgets, and for self-funders, around finding and keeping PAs. It will provide opportunities for people to:

  • Hear from other PA users about their positive approaches to finding and keeping PAs
  • Share the `challenges and find solutions to finding and keeping PAs
  • Learn about the support currently available to help with finding and managing PAs and discuss any other ways that support organisations can assist
  • Discuss ideas around how PA users can support each other to find and keep PAs

A report will be produced of the findings from the event, along with a short booklet on how PA users can support each other with finding PAs.

Super Simple Tasty Food

This was the title of our two cookery courses held at Classroom On The Coast at The Stade in Hastings, as part of our programme of workshops funded by the Hastings and St Leonards Foreshore Trust in 2016/17.  Th workshops were led by Carol Steed from Cherish Social Health and Wellbeing CIC and were free to attend, and took place on Saturday, 18 February and 4 March 2017.

Both classes provided an opportunity for participants to make delicious and simple, but satisfying dishes which could be adapted for one person or for the whole family, and they had the opportunity to stay for lunch and eat what they had cooked in the class.

Cartoon Workshop with Crippen

This workshop is being led by leading disabled cartoonist Dave Lupton, aka Crippen, and is one of a series in a programme of workshops taking place as part of the Hastings and 1066 Country Cartoon Festival, which runs from 15 September 2016 to 8 January 2017.

Date: Friday, 7 October 2016 from 1:30pm to 4:30pm

Venue: Disability Inclusion, 5-6 Trinity Street, Hastings, East Sussex TN34 1HG

Places are limited so Book Now!

For further information about the workshop please contact Theresa on 0333 5779874 / 07967 622405 or by e-mail at [email protected].

For further information about the Hastings and 1066 Country Cartoon Festival please visit the festival's website or Facebook page.

Working successfully with my Personal Assistant

Disability Inclusion received funding from the Skills for Care User-Led Organisations funding programme for 2016/17 to run a series of five training courses for people who employ Personal Assistants (PAs) in East Sussex.  The courses were held between October 2016 and February 2017 in Seaford, Hastings, Uckfield, Eastbourne and Ry.  Further information about the training programme can be found by downloading  the course brochure.

Hastings UK Disability History Month 2014

We were pleased to host the first Hastings UK Disability History month event on 13 December 2014, including talks from local disability activists Kev Towner and Penny Pepper.  It provided a great opportunity for us to share disabled people's history over the last 100 years, and for those who attended to learn more about our culture.  We plan to build on this event to celebrate UK Disability History month again next year.

VisionZone Exhibition 2014

This exhibition was organised by Disability Inclusion in partnership with Optelec Ltd and East Sussex Disability Association (ESDA).  The exhibition aimed to bring together a number of suppliers of assistive technology for blind and partially sighted people as well as environmental products for people with physical impairments

The day was a success, with 80+ disabled people and their families, friends and colleagues attending the exhibition at ESDA’s offices in Eastbourne.  Exhibitors included: Optelec Ltd, Dolphin Computer Access, Computer Room Services, and East Sussex Association for the Blind.

Date: March 2014

Focus Day 2013

This exhibition was organised by Disability Inclusion in partnership with Optelec Ltd and Hastings and Rother Voluntary Association for the Blind (HRVAB).  The aim of the exhibition was to bring together suppliers of assistive technology for blind and partially sighted people in one place to enable blind and partially sighted people to view and try out a range of equipment and discuss services to meet their specific needs.

Exhibitors included: Optelec Ltd, Dolphin Computer Access, Hastings and Rother Association for the Blind (HRVAB), Hastings Talking Newspaper Association (HTNA), and East Sussex County Council’s Adult Social Care Sensory Impairment Team.  The exhibition was held at the John Taplin Centre in St Leonards, and was attended by blind and partially sighted people, their families, friends and colleagues.

Date: September 2013

 

Guide to Wiser Wellbeing

Theresa Hodge worked in partnership with Kristina Veasey, Charles Ellis and Andrew Bruce as a team of disabled consultants called Outside the Box, to produce “Guide to Wiser Well-being”, which was commissioned by Assist UK as part of their Wider and Wiser Well-being project.  The aim of the project was to widen knowledge for disabled and older people to help them maximise their well-being.

The guide begins by providing information about a range of funding sources available to people seeking assistive equipment, as well as local and national sources of support around different areas of their lives and relevant user groups.  As well as checklists to enable people to choose the right products for easier living, it contains advice about health, well-being and lifestyle, and information about going on holiday.

Date: February 2013

“Access All Areas: A Guide to Destination Access Audits”

Production of this guide was commissioned by Tourism South-East on behalf of Accentuate, a transformational programme of 15 projects, inspired by the Paralympic Movement.  It was produced by Outside the Box, a team of disabled Consultants in East Sussex comprising of Theresa Hodge, Kristina Veasey, Charles Ellis and Andrew Bruce.

This best practice guidance is for Local Authorities wishing to carry out a destination access audit.  Its aim is to take you through the different key stages of the process.  Destination access audits assess the experience of disabled visitors with mobility, visual and hearing impairments, from arrival to what they encounter around the destination. This includes public transport links, parking, WC provision, as well as accessibility to shops, restaurants, parks and tourist attractions.  Recommendations are made on how barriers to access can be removed.  

Date: September 2012

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copyright: Disability Inclusion 2017