Thirty Years

The charity continues Peter’s legacy striving to improve the service provision for disabled people in the community. 

Peter’s research in the early 1980s, along with that of those he volunteered with, centered around the extra provision for disabled people and what was available at that time by the statutory and voluntary sectors.

Thirty years on we pride ourselves on still championing the needs and rights of disabled people and members of the Deaf Community (who use British Sign Language (BSL)).

User Led and Disability Confident

Being led and run by disabled and Deaf people helps us understand the issues facing disabled and Deaf people.  We have established trust and credibility within the community, and have a strong commitment to partnership working, particularly through joining up with other charities to provide better services for disabled people.

Find out more in our Strategic Overview.

Exciting Future

Providing that extra service provision that Peter outlined in the very beginning remains our focus today. We offer services, information, and advice that give disabled people and members of the Deaf Community the skills and support they require to overcome barriers such as:

• discrimination
• access issues
• social isolation
• communication barriers
• lack of opportunities

We empower them to live the lives they want; to enjoy independence; gain employment; to know their rights and to find the courage to voice those rights and with your support will continue to do so.

Our latest Impact Report provides an insight into our work and is our
opportunity to let you know some of what we have achieved over
the past two years to improve outcomes for people with
disabilities and Deaf people.

We engaged and supported 15777 people with disabilities and Deaf people who use British Sign Language (BSL).

Just under 6000 disabled and Deaf people were provided with emotional and / or practical support to improve their wellbeing, particularly essential during the Covid pandemic.

97% of our staff feel well supported.

93% of our staff would recommend LOD as a great place to work.

97% believe LOD is dedicated to diversity and inclusiveness.

94% believe that LOD treats its staff and volunteers equally and fairly.

84% reported that their work gives them a feeling of a job well done.

87% reported that LOD have ensured they have all they need to work effectively from home.

76% strongly agreed or agreed that their access needs have been met so they can work from home. For 12% this was not applicable.

Staff were asked how happy they have felt at work in a given time period. On a scale of: 0 (not at all happy) to 10 (completely happy). 83% scored 6 or above; 73% scored 7 or above. The average answer was 7. 62% of staff reported that this was fairly typical of how they have felt working at Living Options Devon.

• We actively attract and recruit disabled people for our job opportunities – some posts have requirement to have lived experience. We ensure our recruitment process are accessible using alternative formats, communication support etc.
• We discuss access needs with all new employees and ensure staff are offered reasonable adjustments when required. We employ a Disability Champion to offer advice and guidance to ensure employees have the support they need in place We regularly review people’s needs in review and appraisals. We adopt an open door policy – ensuring no-one needs to wait for support or feel they can’t ask for more / different adjustments.
• All staff are encouraged to discuss interests in being involved in new projects / changing their role to work in a different project / upgrade their position with their managers – disability access needs are supported in any role in the organisation and are never a barrier to promotion

• All employees undertake disability and Deaf awareness training.

• We have developed a ‘Keeping Well at Work’ process to enable individuals and their managers to understand negative impacts on wellbeing in the workplace and how individuals would like those impacts to be managed to maintain good mental health.

We are your local user-led Disability Confident Leader, which means we encourage and support other businesses to become an inclusive, disability, and Deaf-friendly business. We do this through the delivery of quality training, services, and products, designed and delivered by people with lived experience of disability.

Our Radio Show ‘Accessibility Matters aired each month last year and covered information on our support services and hot topics and raising awareness of the things that matter to our service users.

It is a great source of information on our charity and what we do, it also has some lovely interviews, stories, and uplifting beats.