Kevin's Story with Enable
Support from Enable
My name is Kevin and this is my story about how Enable has supported me to make changes in my life. Some years ago when my marriage ended I lived on my own. I was unhappy because I had no staff to support me and there were some people who were not nice to me in my community. I got to know Linda who was the tenant support worker at Enable and she gave me advice and support to apply for a home with Enable. She then also supported me with an application for Direct Payments. With her encouragement and help I moved into an Enable Property and was successful in getting some support hours from Direct Payments.
Due to my success with getting some Direct Payments I have been able to give talks to other people to tell them about Direct Payments.
Volunteering on Several Committees Withing the Community
I enjoy being a volunteer and representing Adults with Learning Difficulties in various ways. I am an elected committee member on the Enable Group Management Committee and am part of the Service User Forum Sub Group as well as the Enable Training Committee. This experience has built up my confidence and independence so that I now sit on other organisation committees such as Our Vision Future and Links CVS in Chesterfield. I also inspect homes as an "expert of experience".
I am also one of two secretaries for the Enable Service User Forum and have been since it started in the early 1990s. I am now also part of the Citizen Academy where I attend meetings with Jackie King-Owen CEO of Enable and give presentations sometimes.
My Move to Share a House
My move to share a house with Sean has been very important for me. I like having people around especially when Sean is here with his support staff. We are finding ways to sort out all the things we need to do to enjoy sharing a house together. We share jobs like cleaning and tidying and shopping. We even cook meals together and for each other sometimes.
I have just started going to Active Ability at Queen's Park and they have helped me with a healthy diet. My Enable staffs are supporting me to cook healthy meals. It helps me to have more support staff now as I sometimes forget things, like taking my medication and so they remind me.
I like my new home as well because there is more space than I used to have.
My Gozo Trip with Enable
Enable Group have twinned with the island of Gozo which is near Malta. This means we help them with raising money in "The Edge" Charity Shop in Grassmoor and by exchanging staff and service user visits.
In 2006 I went to Gozo with Jackie King-Owen, The Enable Executive Director, Tina Bradley, Assistant Director for Supported Living, and Paul, Mandy and Louise. I saw that life is very different for service users as there are no direct payments and staff do more FOR service users where our staff do things WITH us here. This is better because we learn to be more independent and in control when staff do things WITH us and not FOR us.
