Support for Disabled People To Learn

Alex’s story

We first started to support Alex (not his real name) on the helpline when he was still at school, after his Mum got in touch looking for advice. His Mum used our helpline a number of times over the years as he progressed through different learning pathways. She recently got in touch to say Alex […]

Posted: Thursday, October 31st, 2024

Sarah’s story

Sarah felt increasingly isolated in her final year before graduation. As life with her newly acquired health condition progressed, she struggled to keep up with the increasing demands of her course. Feeling unsupported by her university, she got in touch with Lead Scotland’s disabled students’ helpline. Sarah was diagnosed with ME/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome going into […]

Posted: Wednesday, January 16th, 2019

Pat’s story

“It’s hard…it looks like we are going to have to battle the system once again,” said Pat, after her son Matthew was told he had to find funding for another year at college himself, including the expensive travel costs he would incur as a result of his impairment. The challenges of funding were putting a […]

Posted: Friday, November 16th, 2018

Useful Links

Below is a list of organisations and resources that can offer support and advice in a variety of ways you might find helpful. BSL users can get in touch with any of the below using an interpreter through Contact Scotland: www.contactscotland-bsl.org Advice and Advocacy Citizens Advice Scotland – Free online publications, a helpline and local advisors at Citizens […]

Posted: Thursday, November 2nd, 2017

Mark Completes Activity Agreement

It has just been 5 months since Mark from Aberdeenshire started his Activity Agreement on Stage 1 of the employability programme back in January this year. He has discovered a new sense of confidence in these past few months. Not only has he nearly completed NC 4 Core Skills in Numeracy but also attended an […]

Posted: Friday, May 26th, 2017

I can help my son with his homework now

Pauline is a Dundee adult learner on a mission, to find work and to be a good parent. Pauline experienced a period of anxiety and depression which led to her giving up work. One year on she has now taken up learning opportunities, has had work experience in different sectors and has achieved an Adult […]

Posted: Thursday, May 11th, 2017

Casey Starts Volunteering at Café Connect

I met Casey and her mum Sharron during November 2016. Casey is 19 years old and comes from a small village in the North East of Aberdeenshire. She belongs to a close knit family and has a special bond with her grandparents who live in the same village. At present, she is living with her […]

Posted: Monday, March 13th, 2017

Reasonable Adjustments in Exams

A parent contacted the helpline, looking for information and advice about what their child’s rights were in relation to receiving ‘reasonable adjustments’ for a university admissions test for a degree course their child had applied to. The university was refusing to allow adjustments for an entry exam for their child, who had a specific learning […]

Posted: Tuesday, January 31st, 2017

Organising Support at College

Elizabeth, who is a member of the ASN staff at an Edinburgh school, contacted Lead’s information service regarding Calum, a learner with cerebral palsy who was leaving school and progressing to college the following year. Calum was going to require a relatively complex support package and funding arrangement and his family were not sure who […]

Posted: Tuesday, January 31st, 2017

How studying impacts on benefits

A young disabled person phoned the helpline to try and find out how their benefits would be affected if they were to undertake post-graduate study. They were very anxious and frustrated as they had called multiple agencies to try and get the correct information, but had been receiving conflicting answers as their individual situation was […]

Posted: Tuesday, January 31st, 2017

Learners Gain Adult Achievement Award

During October to December last year, Barbara, our Aberdeenshire Learning Co-ordinator has been working in partnership with the Co-ordinator from The Bridge Project in Fraserburgh to arrange for two groups of 4 learners to work towards an Adult Achievement Award. The Bridge Project is a partnership between Day Services and Employability in Aberdeenshire Council. It’s […]

Posted: Friday, January 13th, 2017

Louise

Louise wanted to improve her reading, writing and numbers skills beyond the limits of only being able to write her own name. Louise’s social worker referred her to Lead for possible support with her learning. With support from the Fife Coordinator, Louise made progress with form filling and reading and she is now able to […]

Posted: Thursday, November 24th, 2016

Tommy Receives the Adult Achievement Award

Tommy found his way to Lead via his GP and psychologist after a period of depression because he was determined to learn reading, writing and computer skills. After a few initial meetings in the library they moved to home learning. The library internet connection wasn’t very good and Tommy actually preferred one to one support […]

Posted: Thursday, June 2nd, 2016

Taking that first step back into learning

Eddie at the job centre told me about Lead. A lot of services don’t come to the house but that’s what I need because I have panic attacks and agoraphobia. I need someone with me all the time. I wanted to build up my confidence. Through Eddie, I met Amy the Learning Co-ordinator and she […]

Posted: Wednesday, April 27th, 2016

I’m about 80-85% back to who I used to be

“I feel like I’m part of the world again. Amy came into my life at exactly the right point. I had been withdrawn and was frightened of people. I had become anxious and experienced agoraphobia. The home visit was really important. I would have had a lot of anxiety about going outside to meet anyone. […]

Posted: Friday, April 15th, 2016

Personal achievement award for learning

Chris was nominated for the ‘Personal Achievement’ award at the Adult Literacies Awards in Fife, for all his hard work. Chris, initially contacted Leonard Cheshire to learn computing and was referred to Lead Scotland for their support. Prior to the referral, Chris had not used a computer before and, because of his visual impairment, was […]