Friday
3rd December, 2021
International
Day of People with Disabilities
2021 IDPWD THEME:
"Fighting for rights in
the post-COVID era"
Today is the annual celebration of IDPWD (International Day of People
with Disabilities) and the theme this year is ‘Fighting for rights in the
post-COVID era.’
In Birmingham, we wish to use the opportunity of
IDPWD to promote the City Council’s new commitment to supporting disabled
people and people with additional needs through the Neighbourhood Network
Scheme (or NNS). During the past 3 years, the cross-city NNS has successfully
developed a network of constituency-based schemes which offer support and
activities to older people (over 50 years old) through grass-roots community
groups and organisations which we call ‘assets’.
But even in the early stages of developing the NNS in
Birmingham, a profound and unprecedented challenge to our initiative came along
in early 2020 with the arrival of the global Covid-19 pandemic and a lockdown
which impacted most notably on the lives of older and disabled people. Rights
and freedoms which have been achieved over many decades were restrained in just
weeks as older and disabled people were quickly identified as being the most
vulnerable to the symptoms of this worrying disease. People found themselves
suddenly shielded in their places of residence, distanced from neighbours,
relatives, friends and carers in order to keep them safe from the virus, yet in
many cases left feeling isolated, lonely and forgotten in their own homes and
care homes.
From the start of Covid-19, the existence of the NNS
network and our cross-city and constituency-based assets made a major
contribution to the lives of older people in the city. Food banks were quickly
established, shopping, PPE and medical supplies delivered, information and
advice provided, online activities created, and friendship and support offered.
Whilst many more structured services struggled to orientate to this escalating
catastrophe, the new NNS meant that the community sector in Birmingham was in a
well-resourced and flexible position to respond.
The wider aim of the NNS is to encourage people to
live their lives in a healthy, independent and fulfilling manner. The
Neighbourhood Network Scheme helps connect people to individuals, groups,
organisations, activities, services and places in their neighbourhoods. During
the past nine months, two of our constituency-based schemes, Sutton Coldfield
and Hodge Hill have been piloting a version of the NNS aimed at people in the
18-49 age group who have ‘additional needs’. This has included the mapping of
groups, organisations, and services (known as assets) which support this
section of Birmingham citizens in the two constituencies. The results of our pilot
projects will be published in April 2022 and, subject to funding, will inform
the roll-out of an NNS network for people with additional needs aged between 18
and 49 across the whole city.
This is a very exciting development and a
fundamental role of the NNS for younger age groups will continue to be the
identification of gaps and provision of support to existing community assets,
as well as developing new ones. If this happens, grants will also be available
to support community assets across the city as they are currently in the Hodge
Hill and Sutton Coldfield Constituencies. Our Small Grants Scheme is
designed to support Assets with funds of up to £10,000, especially those
working at grass roots and local community level, in any field, across a wide
range of activities.
The opening up of the NNS to the younger
age group from April 2022 will be a major and important advance for the city,
especially in enhancing the relationship between the community and voluntary
sector and statutory services such as social care and health services. NNS has
seen a fundamental movement towards stronger, user-involved prevention services
where people can now turn for support to local grassroots, in many cases
self-run organisations and co-produced services.
As the IDPWD celebrates the challenges,
barriers, and opportunities for disabled people, in the context of a global
pandemic, here in Birmingham we use this opportunity to plan for the future, to
continue to challenge marginalisation, discrimination, vulnerability and
exploitation but also to build a city with greater access to health and social
care, greater empowerment of citizens and greater cooperation and liaison
between citizens and their community assets in partnership with the providers
of social and health care services.
The time has arrived to learn the lessons
of the past and move forward into a brighter and truly inclusive future.
To find out more about the NNS in Hodge
Hill and Sutton Coldfield please contact:
Sutton Coldfield: nns@ageconcernbirmingham.org.uk
Blog: https://suttoncoldfieldnns.blogspot.com/
Hodge Hill: HodgeHillNNS@powher.net
To learn more about the NNS across the city of Birmingham please visit the website:
https://www.bvsc.org/neighbourhood-network-schemes-in-birmingham
Or search for local assets at: https://birmingham.connecttosupport.org/