Impact | Young People with Learning Difficulties
Watermans has been a main provider for Aiming High over
recent years. Aiming High engages with disabled children in
Hounslow aged 0 - 18 years and encourages them to take part in a
short break activity away from their families and carers.
QUICK LOOK PROFILE OF THE PROJECT
- NAME:Extreme disbility (street dance
workshop) Fashion workshop Sound workshop
- CLIENT: Aiming High
- TARGET GROUP: Young people with
learning disabilities
- LOCATION: Watermans
- DATE/ TIME: Saturday dance sessions October -
December 2010
Fashion and Music sessions January - March 2011
- NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS: On average 5 per
workshop
- AGE RANGE: 11 to 19 years old
The Aiming High Street Dance, Fashion and Sound workshops are
part of a tailored creative programme delivered by Watermans. These
projects contribute to Watermans year round programme which
supports Aiming High's initiative of providing short breaks for
disabled young people.
INTENDED OUTCOMES
To reduce the dependence of individuals on their
families and carers
Aiming High works to provide short breaks for children and young
people away from their families/ carers and thereby encourages the
young people to become more independent:
"Seeing participants grow to a greater level of independence
was very pleasing. The enthusiasm they all showed for accomplishing
even simple tasks was also very rewarding." Gareth Mitchell, Sound
artist
An improvement in the health and general well-being of
participants through regular physical exercise
The Extreme Ability project provided weekly physical exercise
for participants:
"[There was] a physical improvement in… co- ordination,
balance agility, flexibility" Natasha Mckenzie, Community Dance
Coach
Increased social inclusion through integration into a
public, community venue
Watermans strives to integrate different community groups into
the venue; all the projects featured here took place at the venue
in Brentford:
"I liked the venue because it was easy to get to and was
friendly." Fashion Participant
To reduce isolation through the development of social
skills and new relationships with similar young people
"At the outset, participants were quite reserved, but by the
end were very relaxed in each other's company, as well as in that
of staff at Watermans." Gareth Mitchell, Sound artist
"The highlight of this project for the young people was the
opportunity for interaction with others in a new and different
environment." Jo Dawson, Aiming High
PROJECT IMPACT
- Participants rated the workshops as being very enjoyable and
strongly agreed that they would take part in a similar project
again.
- The young people also said they found the workshops challenging
in a positive way as they got the chance to learn a range of new
skills.
"One of the students used the
fashion workshops as an activity towards completing her Duke of
Edinburgh's award." Alice Theobald, Fashion Artist
"They were all considerably more
confident at the end of the project than they were at the
beginning…Parents were very pleased with Watermans efforts to be
involved in a project such as this." Gareth Mitchell, Sound
artist