Disability Cambridgeshire

Who we are

Who we are:

For 30 years, starting as Directions Plus in 1992, Disability Cambridgeshire has existed to maintain and improve the quality of life of disabled people and carers.

We provide an information, advice and representation service for local people with disabilities, their families, and their carers, who live in the Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire, East Cambridgeshire and Fenland District Council areas of Cambridgeshire.

We are a registered charity and limited company, that is an independent organisation, which works for, and with our community, in our local area.

Our Vision:

Disability Cambridgeshire believes that every person living with a disability should be treated with respect and have equal rights and opportunities. We want everyone to have access to the correct information about their rights, entitlements, and the options available to them so they may take control and manage the support they need to live independent and rewarding lives, as full and valued members of the community.

Our Values

Disability Cambridgeshire is an independent organisation. We work for, and with our community. As a user led organisation, 90% of our staff and volunteers have lived experience of disability of some kind or caring and we put the social model of disability at the heart of all we do.So, we believe in:

• Equality and promoting diversity,
• Improving lives and reducing social isolation
• Positive social change to address the exclusion of our communities’
• Working collaboratively with others
• Being an influencing, learning and enabling organisation
• Conducting our business with integrity in an open, honest, transparent and  accountable way
• Recognising and valuing our staff, volunteers and trustees

Our Objectives:

People with a disability are more likely to be unemployed as non-disabled people and a substantially higher proportion of individuals who live in families with disabled members live in poverty, That is why our charity’s objective is the relief of poverty of disabled people, their families and their carers who live and work in our area of Cambridgeshire. We also know that our community experiences different types of poverty, including:

• Poverty of finances, lack of income and access to benefits
• Poverty of relationships, in the form of social isolation,
• Poverty of work experience in the form of unemployment
• Poverty of opportunity in the form of inequality