What We Will Do For You

As well as being a great self discovery tool for people with learning disabilities, Where I Want to Live  will help personal and professional support networks; it will enable informed decisions based on person-centred planning.

We will provide digital resources and tools to educate young people aged 14 to 35 years and their support networks about future living options so that positive social change takes place, with choice and control becoming a reality instead of a tagline.

The Where I Want to Live digital toolkit will enable self-discovery as well as ­provide easy to use signposting and guidance about the options. This will help understanding so that young people with learning disabilities, and their personal and professional support networks, are able to find their way around the resources and processes involved in planning future living arrangements.

Working with young people with learning disabilities, their families and carers, as well as practitioners we are producing an interactive and accessible platform that will enable all to gain a common understanding of the future living options and aspirations.  It will encourage users to explore ideas and will challenge their own thinking so they can understand and express their ambitions as a ‘wish list’.

This interactive digital approach will encourage thinking about why someone might want to move, where they want to live, if they would like to share with others, what sort of home they’d like. It will give users the opportunity to discuss and share information about their support needs. The toolkit will create a personal profile that users can update whenever they like and can share with others if they want to.

The generosity of The National Lottery Community Fund and other donors has enabled us to produce and trial a draft version of the digital toolkit and the outcomes were positive.  The concept has been proved – it is possible to create a free, accessible and engaging digital toolkit that helps people with learning disabilities to think about their future and let other people know their wishes.; and enhances the achievement of objectives of personal and professional support networks.

With your input we will create an information bank of the needs and wishes of young people with learning disabilities expressed by themselves through this interaction. The data will arm us with a good understanding of actual needs and how people want to live, which could be transformational when we engage with policy makers, trying to influence policies for your benefit.

This information bank will also be of great value to those involved with the provision of services and care for people with learning disabilities. We will use our knowledge base to support local authorities and other providers in their pursuit of effective planning to ensure that homes meet expectations and needs.

We have been working with people with learning disabilities, families, educationalists, local authority and NHS representatives, housing providers and advocacy services – the list of supporters is growing at a pace, and we have concrete evidence of demand.

As with all charities, donations and funding for specific projects and running costs are really important to us. If you can support us in any way, either personally, or through an introduction to a trust, foundation, or other funding body, it would be most appreciated. Access to funding will speed up the development and deployment of our toolkit to those who will benefit from it.

Join us on our drive for change so that choices for adults with learning disabilities become a reality  –  Get involved

The flow chart below outlines the process and topics the charity plans to include… we will support users to start exploring the ideas, right through to decision making about their future living arrangements.

This flow chart is referenced to Finding A Place to Live – Help with your plans. The Housing Support Partnership, Valuing People Support Team and Housing Options 2008.

We would like to thank Learning Disability England (LDE) for allowing us to use aspects of this high quality and relevant publication.