With the New Year bells set to ring at midnight, it's the time of year that many of us take time to reflect on the past 12 months and with this blog Y.O.U and I are doing just that on both a personal and professional level...
One of my aims in life is to be able to write one of these annual reflection/hope for the future blogs and tell you that this year has been smooth sailing and that my first thought for the year ahead is that I'm excited, but, that won't be this year. No matter what year it is life always throws challenges at me and whilst I know this isn't because I have a disability, it does feel that my life becomes a bit of a saga, one that I don't even know what is going to happen. This feeling of life being a saga isn't solely due to my disability but it is often cause by the systems that are set up to support individuals and families living with disabilities. I often feel that I could write a book with several chapters in it that would focus on this rather than just an annual blog!
However, that aside I wouldn't continue to do what I do with Y.O.U as an organisation if I didn't have a passion for standing up for the rights of disabled people and for making sure their voices are heard. In fact, if I was to flip what I just said above on it's head then I suppose I'd be out of a job if the systems and processes set up to support those living with a disability run smoothly. It would just be nice if we saw more of the running smoothly option more often than we do.
Let's try and forget about the challenges for a minute and focus on the positives for both Y.O.U and I. At the start of this year I found out I was going to be an Auntie and now that little bundle of joy is 15 weeks old and goes by the name Maisie, or as I like to call her, Little Miss Maisie. I have a lot of surrogate nieces and nephews from my Dads partners family which has always been nice but to now be referred to as Auntie and be able to say the word niece makes me incredibly happy. Maisie might only be 15 weeks old right now but I've already been told on multiple occasions that she looks like me, both as a baby and as I look now. I'll let you into a secret... I think she's going to be a little mini me, just don't tell my brother that as I've already had to promise that I won't dye her hair pink but let's be honest we know I'm going to be the auntie she comes to for all of that!
There has also been some significant changes in my personal life with regards to my support provider and my support provision and it's still very much a journey that hasn't come to an end yet and to be honest, there's no end in sight. I'm hoping 2024 will change that thought and the earlier the better. I think I might have mentioned in my annual post on Hogmanay last year that I had identified a new support provider and that they would eventually manage all of my support whilst I would still have all the choice and control around directing it. However, due to the ongoing recruitment crisis in social care that many of you are aware of, Team Danielle is still recruiting new members and due to this I have not been able to fully move all my support to my new provider. What I have been able to do, so far, is begin to recruit a PA team who get it and understand that supporting me isn't just about getting me up in the morning and meeting my basic needs, it's about supporting me to live my life in the way I want to live it. In fact, it's due to the change and gradual implementation of this support that for the first time in a really long time, I am going out tonight and will be out to bring in the bells. Right now, I'm thinking why did I choose to do this when I could just curl up in bed and be sleeping for the bells? Despite asking myself this question I already know the answer because for the first time, I can and even though my support isn't perfect, it's better than it was and gives me the flexibility and freedom to do the 'normal' things that others take for granted (there's that word normal again, I hate using it but I'm sure in this context you know what I mean)
On a professional level, similarly to my personal life, Y.O.U has faced both highs and lows this year. One of the highs is that both Y.O.U and I have consistent support from a small number of friends and colleagues who support never waivers and who are there to step in whether it's for moral support with my support challenges, to bounce business ideas off of, to rant to and talk me down if I'm at 100 due to the stresses the systems put on me and others that Y.O.U support or anything else in between (they all know who they are and hopefully some of them will get a chance to read this). Without the ongoing support of the consistent members of Team Danielle, I honestly believe I wouldn't still have my sanity or a business to run and I realise I probably say this in every blog post that I write but it's true, this year as well as every other year.
Y.O.U has also been fortunate enough to be awarded funding from the National Lottery which enabled us to build on our person-centred planning work and to not only work with young disabled people but also to open this up to disabled people older than 25 and to reach people across Scotland. We have begun seeking further funding to develop this programme and although we recently weren't successful with one funding application which gave us a bit of a knock, we are seeking support from other funding sources. Y.O.U has also continued to provide person-centred planning support through the Independent Living Fund (ILF) and each time I support an individual to apply to the Transitions Fund, I can't help but feel excited as each plan I help produce is so different to the last and each becomes my new favourite. the differences in these plans are how it should be and they're also one of the main focusses if Y.O.U's work which is to see each individuals we support, as an individual and to help them reflect their own identity, whatever this is, as well as to have their voices heard. person-centred planning is just one element of the umbrella that Y.O.U services operates within but with more plans already scheduled for 2024 it's definitely one of the areas of work that's gathered the most momentum over the last 12 months.
Y.O.U has also kept the commission role with SUSE as their Lived Experience Coordinator and although funding for this is extremely uncertain after March 2024, Y.O.U and I are glad to have this post at least to help them get to the next stage whatever this may look like for their public social partnerships. I also took on another new role as me rather than just Y.O.U (I hope that's not too confusing) as one of the Project Coordinators for In Control Scotland. As some of you may know, I have worked as an associate with this organisation from 2019 but now I am a contracted member of the team with, I hope, opportunity to extend my contract if their funding bid through the Scottish Government is successful for 2024.
Y.O.U and I will continue to seek other opportunities with a couple already up our sleeves to start exploring in January. Hopefully, well before this time next year, Y.O.U and I will have 2 different sets of new wheels... I will have a new wheelchair, I should've had a new one by now but that's a whole different story! I should also have my mobility van by then so we'll definitely be on the move in 2024 but with the right people behind us. It will hopefully be in the right direction.