The Motability Foundation is thrilled to award £788,896 over two years to Your Voice Counts through our Travelling with Confidence grant programme.
The “Travelling with Confidence” project is being led by Your Voice Counts, in partnership with these five charities:
- Adapt North East
- Bridge Creative
- Darlington Association on Disability
- People First
- Skills for People
The project aims to increase opportunities for people with learning differences in the North East and Cumbria, by building confidence and improving access to travel.
An accredited travel training course will be on offer, which will allow people with learning differences to attend bespoke awareness raising sessions and become buddies to help others overcome their own barriers to travel.
A network of Travel Champions with learning differences will also be established to engage with the transport sector and provide opportunities to influence policy and practice among local providers.
Why are we funding this project?
Your Voice Counts and their partner organisations will engage 650 people with learning differences through this project.
Over the last two years all six organisations have involved people with learning differences in a consultation, which found:
- 73% identified transport as a barrier to travelling independently.
- 93% felt that travel training would lead to increased independence and freedom for them, and travel would be easier with a buddy to help and guide them when they were anxious or worried.
“Improve access to opportunities”
Lisa Jones, our Director of Charitable Operations, said: “We’re delighted to award Your Voice Counts with this grant to work in partnership with local organisations to improve access to opportunities for people with learning disabilities in the North East and Cumbria.
“Your Voice Counts, together with its partners, will offer travel awareness training and peer support, supporting people with learning differences to travel independently and confidently.
“Awarding grants to established and local organisations like these helps us to make an immediate difference to the transport needs of disabled people.”
“Give people the tools and confidence they need to access transport”
Lindsay Henderson, Head of Communities at Your Voice Counts, said: “We know from experience that people with learning disabilities often have transport issues and find moving around and travelling to be an overwhelming experience that they often avoid. This means they can miss out on opportunities that would have a positive impact on their lives.
“Through this project, we’ll be providing bespoke training and support to give people the tools and confidence they need to access different methods of transport. Not only that, we’ll be doing it in a way that empowers people with learning disabilities to share their experiences, support their peers and influence how decisions are made.
“At Your Voice Counts, we’re passionate about breaking down barriers and finding ways for people with lived experience to bring about change so I’m excited to get the project off the ground with our like-minded partner organisations and see what we can achieve across our region.”
Learn more
Find out more about grants to charities and organisations.