insideSUSSEX Magazine Issue 18 - August 2016 | Page 108

CHARITY

SUSSEX CHARITY PROFILE

The Disabilities Trust
The Disabilities Trust is a national charity with its heart in Sussex. Supporting people with
acquired brain injury, autism and physical disabilities in purpose-built residential centres and
houses in the community, the charity helps all of the people who live in its centres and houses
to be as independent as they want and to live their lives as they wish - just one reason why the
trust’s work is so important. Lisamarie Lamb spoke to Helen Tridgell, head of marketing and
fundraising at the trust to find out more.

How do you raise money, and do you have
any upcoming events that our readers can
join in with?
We raise money from a number of sources and
we actively encourage community fundraising.
We have places in all major running events
including the Brighton and London marathons,
and if you don’t fancy a marathon, there’s the
Brighton 10K and numerous park runs.
We will support you to take part in any event,
or to set up your own. We have t-shirts,
running vests, collection tins, banners and lots
of other branded materials that will help you
raise money, and we’ll also give you lots of
advice about how to run an event.

Hi Helen. Can you tell me a bit about the
charity’s history?
The charity was set up in 1979 by a small
group of people who believed that disabled
people should be treated with respect and
encouraged to have as much independence
as possible. The way that disabled people
were treated then was very different to
today’s environment and they were often put
into institutional settings with little dignity or
encouragement to live the lives they wished for.

How many people have you helped over
the years?
As the trust has been in existence for 30
years, it is difficult to say how many people
we have helped in total, but we support over
one thousand each year, so there have been
many thousands who have accessed our
services. Many more have benefitted too, as it
is important to us that we support families and
friends, particularly when their loved ones are
planning to return home.

The trust originated in Burgess Hill, and the first
centre, Ernest Kleinwort Court, still thrives as
much as the second centre, Shinewater Court,
Eastbourne; both support people with physical
disabilities. 25 years ago it was decided that
the trust should additionally have services for
people with acquired brain injury, caused, for
example, by accidents or stroke, and there
are now 15 centres across the UK, including
Kerwin Court in Horsham. Five years later, the
first centre for people on the autism spectrum
was opened and the trust now supports
people with this condition in the beautiful
setting of Hollyrood, Lindfield. There are also a
number of community houses in Sussex and
across the country where people can live with
24-hour support, but increased independence.

How much do you aim to raise each year?
We don’t raise a huge amount each year as
we are statutorily funded, therefore our fees
come largely from health and social services.
However, we do fundraise for things that make
the lives of the people in our centres more
enjoyable or increase their independence.
For example our #ConnectAbility appeal is
aiming to raise £250,000 to buy assistive
communications technology.
Money raised so far has bought a range of
equipment such as iPads, speech to text/text
to speech software, touch screen PCs and 3D
printers, which have changed lives, allowing
people to communicate, shop, bank, and
generally live their lives in a way that many of
us take for granted.

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What about volunteers? How important
are they to The Disabilities Trust, and what
sort of things do they do?
Volunteers are very important to us. Apart
from raising money, they can help us at our
centres with gardening, driving, and helping
and mentoring people with activities including
assistance with IT equipment.
We also have a number of volunteers at our
Central Support Services office in Burgess Hill.
They help us with administrative tasks such
as identifying local companies who might like
to carry out a corporate challenge at one of
our centres; there is always gardening and
decorating to be done!
What sort of equipment have you recently
been able to help purchase, and what is
still needed?
Our main focus has been on communications
technology and we have bought a wide range
of equipment, but we still need more. iPads
are very popular as are touch screen PCs
and assistive software. The PCs are very easy
to use even if you have very limited mobility.
We are also hoping to buy tilting interactive
screens which are suitable for learning and
playing games. They can be used by a number
of people, so encourage sociability too. They
are pretty expensive at over £5,000 each, but
we’re going all out to try to buy what is needed.