Disability Essex News

50th Mobility Scooter given away by Essex charity

The County-wide services of Disability Essex include a project to collect redundant mobility scooters – and (after refurbishment) give them away to needy individuals.

This August, and 2 years after the project started, the 50th unit was presented to Mr John Nutley, of Canvey Island. The donor of the scooter, Mrs Emily Inwood, of Crawley, gave it to Disability Essex, following the death of her father, who lived in Hawkwell.

This brings the total value of scooters given away (at current market value) to £35,000. The scooters are serviced by either Maple DGT of Chelmsford or Body’s of Westcliff.

Scooters have been given to residents of the following areas:

Braintree
Brentwood
Chelmsford
Colchester
Castle Point
Rochford
Southend-on-Sea
Maldon
Thurrock
Harlow
Epping Forest

This service liberates people who otherwise would never be able to afford expensive mobility equipment.

Disability Essex Press Release, 13 August 2008

Dutch and Spanish Interest in Disability Essex Computer Research

MCCSIS ’08 is the Multi Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems. This year’s conference (22-25 July) was held at Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky in Amsterdam.

Disability Essex is creating a new software for disabled people which is called ‘The Intelligent Keyboard’. This is aimed at allowing disabled people to use standard computer equipment – without the need of special keyboards. Thousands of people could benefit from this exciting development.

The latest progress of this software research was presented to academics and researchers, from around the world, by IT software designer Jun Li from Disability Essex. By invitation from the conference organizers, IADIS, (the International Association for Development of the Information Society) delegates were given a scientific briefing on ‘The Solution for Disabled People to Use Computer Keyboards’.

The European Universities (Spanish and Dutch) have now asked for further information and potential partnerships in their work for blind people. Future joint developments could result. Dr Christina Davies (IT Consultant) accompanied Mr Jun Li to the presentation. Disability Essex is a leading charity in IT development and disability training.

Disability Essex Press Release, 30 July 2008

Fire Safety Demonstration at Disability Essex

A training programme to help save people's lives when a minibus or taxi catches fire could be rolled out across Essex.

Canvey-based Safety First Travel Ltd held a demonstration last Thursday of how to evacuate disabled passengers from a minibus at Disability Essex in Rochford.

The demonstration showed that operators of such vehicles can now train to NVQ2 standard for their jobs and part of the course involves fire training.

Richard Robinson, training director and the firm, was asked to devise the fire training course by Southend Council. He said: 'This will not only make drivers more confident they can deal with these situations, but will also reassure passengers that they are in safe hands.'

Yellow Advertiser, w/e 26 July 2008

Major European Award for Disability Essex

The European Council of the Regions hosted an international conference at their HQ in Brussels, on 24th June 2008. The subject was "Climate Change and the Challenges for Public Health". Co-sponsors were the European Regional and Local Health Authorities (EUREGHA) and the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL).

Part of this high profile event was the presentation of two awards. (One, in recognition of outstanding innovation and mitigation to deal with climate change was awarded to Disability Essex) and the second, for health adaptations, went to the Municipality of Tatabanya in Hungary. 38 projects were considered by the judging panel of international experts, from throughout the European Union. All, except that from Essex, were prepared by regional governments, city or state councils, or public health and transport undertakings. In fact, Disability Essex was the only charity in the competition.

The award certificate was presented to Richard Boyd (CEO of Disability Essex) by Dr. Bettina Menne on behalf of the European Office of the World Health organisation (WHO). Genon Jensen, Executive Director of the Health and Environmental Alliance, congratulated the charity and its architects on the design of the eco-building and the unique health and retraining projects which will take place within it. "You are an example to other organisations, far larger and richer than you, who have yet to address the issue of climate change and its impact on vulnerable people. " she said.

Sixty representatives from regional and local authorities, and health organisations, attended the conference. Members of the European Parliament, Permanent Representatives from 6 countries, plus University, and Governmental authorities from 18 EU states were joined by delegates from Taiwan, Australia, and Switzerland.

After the award ceremony, Richard Boyd said “The kindness and warmth shown to the work and aspirations of our charity, by the hosts and delegates, has made this award truly memorable. The organisers even paid for all our travel costs, recognising that we are a tiny organisation compared to all the other players here today. Our experience, to date, was that our efforts to create this unique building had been a struggle where no-one appeared to care how much we were spending to meet the bureaucracy hurdles put in front of us.” He thanked the organisors by saying “This is the first European award that our charity has ever achieved. I thank you on behalf of my team, most of whom are disabled, and the 12,000 individuals in Essex who are part of the Disability Essex network".

Full details of the award can be found at www.env.health.org and www.euregha.net.

Disability Essex Press Release, July 2008

Essex Policy Diversity & Community Engagement Programme

Disability Essex is proud of its ongoing involvement with the Essex Police Diversity & Community Engagement programme - by providing placements for student officers.

Now, with the help of their TV and Media Unit, Essex Police have produced a Diversity & Community Engagement Programme promotional DVD. A website illustrating the achievements of the programmes also contains an internet version of the DVD.

This short (4 mins 42 seconds) promotional video is an interesting view, shot in a modern style that epitomises just what the placement programme is all about. If you would like to see this, go to www.essex.police.uk/communityplacement. (Please note that to do this, you will need sound.)

Email from Essex Police, 3 June 2008

BUPA Great South Run 2008

Location: Portsmouth Date: Sunday 26th October 2008

This October, our Fundraiser Claire Hammond and her partner Tom Addis will be running the BUPA Great South Run along with three other supporters of Disability Essex – Gareth Hunter, Matthew Addis and Lynsey Van Praag.

They will be pounding the pavements of Portsmouth in superhero outfits to complete the fast 10-mile coastal race and they aim to raise around £1,500 if not more.

Great South Run 2008

Claire told us, “We are all really looking forward to the challenge of the race but also the task of raising as much money as possible for Disability Essex. As fundraiser I am often asking other people to undertake daunting events in order to support such a worthwhile charity so I thought it was about time I did something myself!”

“I’ve never run 10 miles before but Tom and I are starting training this month and will be asking for tips from Matt in the team as he has run marathons all across the world including London and New York.”

Could you support our running team by sponsoring them for this event?

Every penny raised will be used directly to provide services that improve the lives of people with disabilities in Essex. We are so proud of our runners and would like to thank anyone in advance for supporting them with sponsorship, however much you can spare.

To support Disability Essex you can visit JustGiving where you can donate online safely and securely. Or if you prefer you can send a cheque for the total of your collected donations direct to Disability Essex at the Centre for Disability Studies, Adult Community College, Rocheway, Rochford, Essex, SS4 1DQ.

Thank you for your support!

June 2008