Sense Ability Matters is a charity which supports all adults in South Tyneside and Gateshead who have a sensory impairment. We changed our Charitable Objectives in 2023 to include disabled people and people who live with a long-term health condition.
Our services help our community to stay independent, maintain their mental wellbeing, avoid preventable deterioration of their physical health and reduce social isolation.
We follow Scope’s Social Model of Disability but respect other people’s language choices to describe themselves.
Our vision is to have a disabled and sensory loss community that is informed, empowered and resilient.
We’re working to achieve that by:
• Empowering our community by giving them the tools they need to live independently and make positive decisions.
• Helping our community overcome adversity by increasing resilience and wellbeing.
• Ensuring our community is informed by providing first class information, advice and guidance.
• Influencing positive change locally, regionally and nationally for our community through strong stakeholder and relationship management.
Each person receives tailored support, uniquely designed to provide what they need, at the right time for them.
Working with other regional sight loss charities, we want to expand our services to include the geographical area of North Tyneside. SAM and Newcastle Vision Support often receive referrals for residents of North Tyneside but have no staff capacity to deliver in this area, our governing documents do allow for work in 'surrounding areas'.
Through the Visionary NE network, we have identified a need for holistic services that address emotional needs and the practical skills needed to support self advocacy. This is significantly apparent in North Tyneside where there are limited community based services available for blind and partially sighted people.
The funding will help us to research, plan and co-design sustainable activities in North Tyneside and provide strong match funding to support our bids. Support from Fight For Sight will allow us to develop a strategic relationship with North Tyneside Council and the North Tyneside Integrated Care Partnership ensuring activity is complimentary and relevant.
The strategic work will be undertaken by the Chief Executive/ Chief Officers from the Partners, with support from senior managers as needed. The Fight For Sight grant will provide capacity for this work by funding; staff time, room hire for meetings and incentives for blind and partially sighted people to co-design services.