Scope (charity)

Last updated

Scope
Formation1951
HeadquartersLondon, E15
Region served
England and Wales
Chief Executive
Mark Hodgkinson
Website scope.org.uk

Scope (previously known as the National Spastics Society) is a disability charity in England and Wales that campaigns to change negative attitudes about disability, provides direct services, and educates the public. The organisation was founded in 1952 by a group of parents and social workers who wanted to ensure that their disabled children had the right to a decent education. Originally focused on cerebral palsy, Scope now embraces all conditions and impairment. Scope subscribes to the social model of disability rather than the medical model of disability – that a person is disabled by the barriers placed in front of them by society, not because of their condition or impairment. [1]

Contents

History

Scope was founded as the National Spastics Society on 9 October 1951 [2] by Ian Dawson-Shepherd, Eric Hodgson, Alex Moira and a social worker, Jean Garwood, with the aim of improving and expanding services for people with cerebral palsy. [3]

From 1955 to 1989, the society ran the Thomas Delarue School, a specialist secondary boarding school at Tonbridge, Kent. [4] Scope ran several other schools until they were transferred to another organization in 2018. [5]

Over time, thanks in large part to the influence of Bill Hargreaves, [6] the first trustee with cerebral palsy, the charity's aims extended to improving and expanding services for people with cerebral palsy and disabled people in general. Bill's pioneering work in employment in the 1950s supported over 1,500 disabled people into their first jobs. [6] : 70  In 1962, he set up the 62 Clubs where disabled people could choose and control their own leisure activities. Through its employment services, Scope continues to support disabled people to have the same opportunities as everyone else.

In 1963, the organisation merged with the British Council for the Welfare of Spastics to become The Spastics Society. The Spastics Society provided sheltered workshops and day centres for people with cerebral palsy (commonly referred to as spastics at the time, despite spasticity being a symptom of only one variant of cerebral palsy), who were seen as being unemployable in mainstream society. The Society provided residential units and schools, as well as opening a chain of charity shops.

The term spastic had long been used as a general playground insult, so in 1994 the organisation changed its name to Scope. [7] [8]

In November 1996, Scope AGM voted in favour of an individual membership scheme to give a voice to the 20,000 people that Scope and its local groups are in contact with every year – the first major UK disability charity to do so. In 1998, Scope individual members voted in elections to Executive Council.[ citation needed ]

In 2017, Scope launched its new strategy – Everyday equality – which set out how the charity would campaign to support disabled people. The strategy sets out an ambition to offer information, support and advice to two million disabled people and their families every year.[ citation needed ]

In 2018 Scope transferred 51 services, 31 care homes, 10 day services, and 1,300 staff to Salutem Healthcare as part of a major shift out of service provision. [9] [5]

Campaigns

In 2004 Scope launched the Time to Get Equal campaign to reduce disablism, which it defines as "discriminatory, oppressive or abusive behaviour arising from the belief that disabled people are inferior to others". [10]

In 2014 Scope ran a campaign called End The Awkward fronted by comedian Alex Brooker. The campaign used comedy to shine a light on the awkwardness that many people feel about disability. [11] Scope's End The Awkward campaign continued in 2015 when they teamed up with Channel 4 to run a series of short films entitled What Not to Do, which demonstrated how not to behave in situations including a blind date, a job interview and at the hairdressers. [12] Scope also created an A-Z of sex and disability. [13]

In 2016 Scope launched their third year of End The Awkward where they introduced their H.I.D.E. concept — a mnemonic which stands for: Say 'Hi'; Introduce yourself; Don't panic; End the awkward — to encourage people to talk to disabled people rather than avoid them. [14]

In 2017 Scope partnered with Virgin Media to run their Work With Me and Support To Work efforts, providing online advice and support for disabled people seeking work. [15] [16] [17]

Publications

N.S.S. news : the monthly magazine of the National Spastics Society, ran from 1953 to 1958 and became:

Spasticsnews : magazine of the National Spastics Society, ran from 1958 to 1984 and became:

Disability now , ran from 1984 to 2012 (ceased publication).

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cerebral palsy</span> Group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sensation, vision, hearing, and speaking. Often, babies with cerebral palsy do not roll over, sit, crawl or walk as early as other children of their age. Other symptoms include seizures and problems with thinking or reasoning, each of which occur in about one-third of people with CP. While symptoms may get more noticeable over the first few years of life, underlying problems do not worsen over time.

Spastic diplegia is a form of cerebral palsy (CP) that is a chronic neuromuscular condition of hypertonia and spasticity—manifested as an especially high and constant "tightness" or "stiffness"—in the muscles of the lower extremities of the human body, usually those of the legs, hips and pelvis. Doctor William John Little's first recorded encounter with cerebral palsy is reported to have been among children who displayed signs of spastic diplegia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leonard Cheshire Disability</span> British charitable organization

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">ADAPT – Able Disable All People Together</span>

ADAPT – Able Disabled All People Together is an Indian non-profit and non-governmental organization, working to help people with neuro-muscular and developmental disabilities. It was started on 2 October 1972 by Mithu Alur, to provide education and treatment services for the "spastics".

In medicine, the adjective spastic refers to an alteration in muscle tone affected by the medical condition spasticity, which is a well-known symptomatic phenomenon seen in patients with a wide range of central neurological disorders, including spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, stroke, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and multiple sclerosis (MS), as well as conditions such as "spastic colon." The word is derived via Latin from the Greek spastikos.

The William Little Foundation is a London-based charity operating internationally.

Cerebral Palsy Alliance is an Australian nonprofit organisation helping babies, children, teenagers and adults living with cerebral palsy and other neurological and physical disabilities. Its therapy teams work with individuals and families to maximise their participation in the community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spastic cerebral palsy</span> Cerebral palsy characterized by high muscle tone

Spastic cerebral palsy is the type of cerebral palsy characterized by spasticity or high muscle tone often resulting in stiff, jerky movements. Cases of spastic CP are further classified according to the part or parts of the body that are most affected. Such classifications include spastic diplegia, spastic hemiplegia, spastic quadriplegia, and in cases of single limb involvement, spastic monoplegia.

Thomas Delarue was a co-educational special secondary boarding school in Tonbridge, Kent, England that was established in 1955 and closed in 1989. It was run by The Spastics Society and catered for pupils with cerebral palsy.

Laurence Clark is a British stand-up comedian, writer, actor, presenter, and disability rights campaigner. Laurence was born with cerebral palsy and uses his line of work to alter the general public's perceptions of disabled people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mithu Alur</span> Indian researcher, writer, and disability rights activist

Mithu Alur is the founder chairperson of The Spastic Society of India – now rechristened ADAPT – Able Disable All People Together. She is an educator, disability rights activist, researcher, writer and published author on issues concerning people with disability in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon James Stevens</span> British disability activist

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Malini Chib is an Indian disability rights activist and author who has cerebral palsy. Chib wrote the book One Little Finger over the course of two years by typing with only one finger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spastic Society of Gurgaon</span> Organization based in India

Spastic Society of Gurgaon covers within its scope the programs on occupational therapy, counseling, vocational training and psychotherapy of the children with autism, cerebral palsy, intellectual disability and multiple disabilities in Haryana, India. It is India's first non-profit disability sector organization which was awarded ISO certification by United Kingdom Accreditation Service: United Registrar of Systems for quality of services rendered by it. It also works in the field of imparting counseling and psychotherapy to the parents and guardians of the disabled children. Mass camps are conducted for welfare of children with disabilities. Multiple single window services like assistance in issuance of disability certificates, NIRAMAYA cashless insurance cards, medical check ups, distribution of medicines and medical aids are rendered to disabled people in such camps. Being sponsored by Haryana Government it undertakes disability audits of organizations for assessing accessibility compliance by them.

scosa was a South Australian organisation providing a range of supports to children and adults with disabilities. Initially it focused on people with cerebral palsy. In August 2019, it was announced that scosa was to merge into Novita.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capability Scotland</span> Charity based in Scotland

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Rosie Jones is a British comedian, writer and actress. After starting her career as a writer on panel shows, she went on to appear as a guest on The Last Leg, 8 Out of 10 Cats, 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, QI and Hypothetical. She attended the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo as a roving reporter for The Last Leg.

Rights Now, sometimes written with an exclamation mark, was a British umbrella group of disabled people's organisations and charities which campaigned for a change in the law to prevent discrimination against disabled people and for a full civil rights law, even though the result was the flawed Disability Discrimination Act 1995. The biggest protest in numbers of people was in July 1994 at Trafalgar Square and Whitehall, London. It was a very broad-based campaign, including trade unions for example. Campaigning to improve the laws for full civil rights continued, but Rights Now as a group ended in 1995.

Spastic can refer to:

References

  1. ↑ "Social model of disability". Scope.
  2. ↑ Davies, Chris (April 2001). "Beginnings". Changing Society: A Personal History of Scope (Formerly The Spastics Society) 1952–2002. Scope. p. 19. ISBN   0946828962.
  3. ↑ "History". Scope.
  4. ↑ "TDS The School". Thomas Delarue School . Retrieved 26 July 2011.
  5. 1 2 "Special school to be run by private healthcare company". WS County Times.
  6. 1 2 Hargreaves, Bill (2002). Can You Manage Stares? The Life of Bill Hargreaves. Scope. ISBN   0946828954. Archived from the original on 6 January 2007.
  7. ↑ Rose, Damon (31 March 2014). "Formerly known as the Spastics Society: The importance of charity names". BBC Ouch!.
  8. ↑ "CHARITY CHANGE – SPASTICS SOCIETY CHANGES NAME TO SCOPE". The Sunday Times . 27 March 1994.
  9. ↑ Preston, Rob (18 December 2018). "Scope's workforce to go from 3,000 to 800 over two years". Civil Society. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  10. ↑ Benjamin, Alison (26 May 2004). "Bridging the gap". The Guardian .
  11. ↑ Harris, Scott Jordan (4 August 2015). "How to behave with disabled people: A new guide tells you what to do". The Independent . Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  12. ↑ "Channel 4 and Scope partner for Shorts series starring Alex Brooker – Channel 4 – Info – Press". Channel 4. 21 July 2016. Archived from the original on 26 July 2015. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  13. ↑ Hinde, Natasha (30 October 2015). "People With Disabilities Share Sex Stories To End Stigma Once And For All". HuffPost . Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  14. ↑ Jardine, Alexandra (19 September 2016). "'Hide' When You See a Disabled Person, Says U.K. Charity Ad – Video – Creativity Online". Creativity Online . Archived from the original on 21 September 2016. Retrieved 14 October 2016.
  15. ↑ Carter, Claire (3 October 2017). "I've got a good degree and great CV but I've been turned down for 250 jobs because I'm blind". The Mirror . Retrieved 4 October 2017.
  16. ↑ Vizard, Sarah (9 July 2019). "Virgin Media tackles disability employment crisis". Marketing Week .
  17. ↑ "Partnership with Scope". Virgin Media .
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