The idea
JustDifferent has ten years of experience of offering subsidised stimulating, interactive and educational disability awareness workshops, written and created by people with disabilities. Founded in 2008 by Toby Hewson who was born with Cerebral Palsy, JustDifferent is named purposely to convey the fact that we are all unique and our differences should be celebrated rather than used against us. Hate crime, trolling and bullying is on the rise, it is even more important that we educate the younger generation to know that it's fine to "look different from each other or be disabled" and in so doing, promote an inclusive society. Our workshops are popular, inclusive and enlightening. We would like to transfer these to video so as to reach a much wider audience online. This will enable us to promote our work to potential schools interested in hosting these - and to create a web space for access to these workshops.
What we'll deliver
- Greater awareness of disability in the most influential public space of all - our schools
- This video project will take the message to many thousands more students
- We are based in West Sussex - so this area will benefit most
Why it's a great idea
The workshop sessions challenge and change preconceived ideas in a positive and lasting way. All our workshops have been carefully created to support a broad and balanced curriculum of which PSHE, Citizenship and SMSC elements of their learning journey are supported. Each workshop demonstrates that we all have the same aspirations, emotions and concerns and provides the opportunity to talk about community and inter-dependability. Taking this project to the next stage online and on video will enable us to expand our audience exponentially.
Steps to get it done
- Creating new anti-bullying workshops
- Training and equipping four disabled workshop presenters
- Identifying 20 schools interested in hosting the workshops in Sussex
- Delivering the workshops and receiving detailed feedback
- Asking for future repeat bookings
JustDifferent is the only charity of its kind set up and run by people with disabilities to raise awareness of, and employment opportunities for, those living with a disability.
Our Vision is of a world where disabled people are accepted and included as equal members of society and where everyone values and respects each other regardless of their abilities or disabilities.
Our Mission is to change attitudes to people with disabilities by sharing and articulating the JustDifferent experience
We have spent 11 years creating dedicated disability workshops for schools (over 197,000 children have taken part in over 6000 workshops, along with over 12,000 adults). Our aim is to build on this legacy by creating a suite of educational materials focused around a short promotional video to encourage invitations to host our anti-bullying, awareness raising workshops in schools. The project will be digitally led via a short video/website hosted/email marketing/social media
