Specialist support
Click on the tabs below to read more about these voluntary organisations, and the specialist support services they offer:
WheelPower is the national organisation and charity for British Wheelchair Sport.
Sport is the medium by which WheelPower help people with disabilities improve their quality of life.
Often at a time when there are many negative things in a person’s life, sport is a real positive. Each year approximately 1,000 men, women and children become paralysed due to an accident or illness. Through sport these people whose lives have been traumatically changed, can have an outlet for their frustrations and energy.
By focusing on something they can do, and potentially can excel in, increased confidence and a positive outlook can be achieved and this can influence other areas of their lives.
WheelPower provides accessible facilities at the Stoke Mandeville Stadium, the “home of Wheelchair Sport” including an Athletics Arena, Sports Hall, Indoor Bowls Centre, Swimming Pool and Fitness Centre.
We make every effort to respond to enquiries as quickly as possible. However, due to the high level of correspondence, there may be a delay in our reply.
Registered address:
WheelPower
Stoke Mandeville Stadium
Guttmann Road
Stoke Mandeville
Buckinghamshire
HP21 9PP
Telephone: 01296 395995
Fax: 01296 424171
Email (general enquiries): info@wheelpower.org.uk
Website: www.wheelpower.org.uk
Office Hours: Monday to Friday 9am–4pm
The office may be open outside of these times however an answerphone is available to leave messages when the office is closed or by email to info@wheelpower.org.uk
The British Wheelchair Sports Foundation Ltd, trading as WheelPower Company Limited by Guarantee
The Inclusive Fitness Initiative (IFI) is a programme supporting the fitness industry to become more inclusive.
It caters for the needs of disabled and non-disabled people, as well as raising physical activity participation levels
Copyright: Michaela Greene
Please call for permission to reproduce: 07711 338535
IFT has been established for over 10 years, with a national coverage of 400 IFI Mark accredited gym facilities, and is now managed within the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS).
- If you are a disabled person looking for an inclusive gym near you, visit our facility search.
- If you are a facility or equipment supplier looking to find out more about the IFI Mark, visit the IFI Mark accreditation section of the website.
The model is built around developments in four key areas:
- Accessible facilities
- Inclusive fitness equipment
- Staff training
- Inclusive marketing and engagement strategies.
You can also contact a member of the IFI team on ifi@efds.co.uk
English Federation Of Disability Sport
SportPark – Loughborough University,
3 Oakwood Drive,
Loughborough,
Leicestershire
LE11 3QF
Tel: 01509 227750
Fax: 01509 227777
Regain – The Trust for Sports Tetraplegics
Regain is the only charitable organisation dedicated solely to improving the independence of all British men and women who have become tetraplegic (sometimes referred to as quadriplegic) as a result of a sports or leisure injury.
Money is available for potential Regainers to help provide them with the specialist equipment they need to enable them to achieve greater independence and improve their quality of life. Each request is considered independently, on its own merits and will be granted after consideration of the funds available at the time.
Please feel free to contact us if you want to know more about how you can obtain help from REGAIN, or how you can contribute. Any comments on the usability and content of this web site would also be appreciated.
Other contacts for Regain
Gwynne Furlong – Chief Executive
Gwynne@regainsportscharity.com
Dominic Coleman – Senior Grants Officer *Tetraplegic
Dominic@regainsportscharity.com
Peter Burch – Fundraising
peter@regainsportscharity.com
REGAIN
Action for Charity & Dream Challenges,
Newcourt House,
New Street,
Lymington,
Hampshire,
SO41 9BQ
Tel: 01590 677854
Website: www.regainsportscharity.com
Email: enquiries@regainsportscharity.com
The Spinal Injuries Association (SIA) is the leading national charity for spinal cord injured people.
We are unique in that we are a user led organisation; our elected Trustees are all spinal cord injured and are voted for by the spinal cord injured membership.
Our aims are to:
- Offer support and assistance from the time of injury and for the rest of a paralysed person’s life
- Provide services to increase an individual’s quality of life
- Support the families of newly injured people
- Increase knowledge and awareness of the causes and consequences of spinal cord injury
- Campaign for the best medical and social care for spinal cord injured people
We hope you will explore our website (www.spinal.co.uk ) where you will find a wealth of information, experiences and ideas.
Tel: 01908 604191 for general enquiries and for membership information
Email: sia@spinal.co.uk
Web: www.spinal.co.uk
Advice Line
Tel: 0800 980 0501 Monday – Friday, 10.00am -1.00pm and 2.00pm-4.30pm
Email: adviceline@spinal.co.uk
There is plenty more advice and contacts that the SIA offer on their contact page – Click here to go to their contact page which opens in a new window.
SIA produces a list of other SCI centres throughout the UK which can be found on the website www.spinal.co.uk
They also produce a range of guides and fact sheets, which can be downloaded free from their website at http://www.spinal.co.uk/page/downloads
Contact SIA
Address
SIA House
2 Trueman Place
Oldbrook
Milton Keynes
MK6 2HH
Telephone
0845 678 6633
01908 604 191
Fax
0845 070 6911
Freephone Advice Line
0800 980 0501
Open 9.30am to 4.30pm
(closed 1pm to 2pm)
Monday to Friday
Advice Line Text Messaging Service
Text ‘SIA’ followed by your message to 81025
Email
sia@spinal.co.uk
FacingDisability (a US based project) was specifically created to connect families who suddenly have to deal with a spinal cord injury with other people like them.
Their website has more than 1,000 videos of family members answering real-life questions about how they cope with a spinal cord injury.
History of FacingDisability.com
Like many projects of this nature, FacingDisability.com was born out of personal experience.
In the summer of 1986, after diving into a swimming pool, Vicki Hill sustained a neck injury resulting in quadriplegia.
During her rehabilitation, Vicki was fortunate to be able to participate in a peer-mentoring program. The program introduced her to other people who had sustained injuries like hers a few years before. They helped her learn how to think about her disability and live with her new body.
They offered a lot more than well-meaning help and advice. They were the undeniably believable and unquestionably honest voices of experience.
But there was no peer-mentoring program to help her parents, family and friends to deal with the new life situations that they themselves were experiencing as a result of Vicki’s sudden disability.
The lack of such programs is the reason behind FacingDisability.com.
There is a lot of worthwhile information on this site including forums, blogs, resources and such like. Coping with Spinal Cord Injury | Video and Resources | Facing Disability
The TM Society is a small UK based charity with over 1000 members, whose main aim is to offer support to those who may have, or know someone with, Transverse Myelitis and its associated conditions such as ADEM, Neuro Myelitis Optica (NMO) and others.
They are manned by an entirely unpaid voluntary group of people who mostly have TM themselves.
The TM Society provide support via Support Group meetings held around the country, and are happy to answer telephone calls from TM patients, their families and friends. They have also held significantly impressive Conferences with world class speakers who are leaders in their field.
They know that TM affects roughly three to four people per million patients seen, so those with the condition may simply never meet anyone else with it and often find that their own GP knows little about it.
They feel it’s very important to make sure that people with the illness are able to meet with and talk to others in the same position since we know that neurological conditions can be extremely isolating.
The TM Society are here to help and make sure that all those with TM feel as though they have a friendly ear to listen to them. If there’s anything you would like to know or to discuss, get in touch. They would love to hear from you.
The TM Society has many resources where you can find further information and help with things like Managing Symptoms to Disabled Holiday Information.
Click this link to take you straight to the resource page on their site.
Aspire’s core Services provide the practical support that can be needed by those who sustain spinal cord injuries.
The services they offer cover a range of areas and are available to new patients in the NHS Spinal Cord Injury Centres, to those who have just been discharged from hospital and to people who have been living with their injury for years. But whilst they are different in what they do, they all have the same goal – to help take someone from injury to independence.
Through its projects and programmes, Aspire offers practical support to the 40,000 people living with a spinal cord injury in the UK so that they can lead fulfilled and independent lives in their homes, with their families, in work places and in leisure time.
Head Office contact details are as follows:
Aspire
Aspire National Training Centre
Wood Lane, Stanmore
Middlesex, HA7 4AP
Tel: 020 8954 5759
Email: info@aspire.org.uk
Web: www.aspire.org.uk
Spinal Injuries Scotland is the national voluntary organisation concerned with new and long-term spinal cord injured people, their relatives and friends, along with those involved in the management, care and rehabilitation of the injury.
SIS provides immediate support through the office based Information Service and operate a self-referral information line. They also provide a legal and welfare rights advisory service. Their representatives, who are able to discuss all aspects of living with a spinal cord injury, undertake weekly visits to the Queen Elizabeth National Spinal Injuries Unit.
In addition we liaise with other similar voluntary and professional organisations so that the issues surrounding spinal cord injury are recognised and understood
Contact Details:
Spinal Injuries Scotland
Fullarton Court, Unit C
11 Drumhead Place
Glasgow
G32 8EY
Phone number: +44 (0)141 427 7686
Freephone Line: 0800 0132 305
Email: mailto:info@spinalinjuriesscotland.org.uk
Web: http://www.spinalinjuriesscotland.org.uk/
