Everyone deserves the opportunity to live a life filled with purpose, belonging and possibility
Everyday Citizenship is about more than receiving support. It is about creating opportunities, relationships and freedoms that enable people with learning disabilities to live ordinary lives in extraordinary ways.
WHERE OUR JOURNEY BEGAN
It all started with a question.
Could we do more?
In 2024, Bethany and Anthony from the Jigsaw Group attended a conference exploring Everyday Citizenship. Listening to the conversations, ideas and lived experiences shared throughout the day inspired them to ask one simple but powerful question.
That question wasn’t the end of a conversation.
It became the beginning of a movement.
Back at The Wilf Ward Family Trust, they shared their experiences and challenged us to think differently. Rather than simply asking what support should look like, they encouraged us to ask what a good life should look like – one built on belonging, relationships, choice, purpose and opportunity.
We listened.
And that’s where our journey began.
Listening became action.
Supported by Mind the Gap and
Purple Patch Arts, people with learning disabilities
came together to explore what Everyday Citizenship meant in their own lives.
What began as one question grew into a creative journey filled with
conversation, performance, artwork, ideas and honest reflection.
The Everyday Citizenship conference brought together 100 people to listen,
learn, share experiences and challenge existing thinking.
Fifteen people shared their voices, experiences and ideas about what helps
make an ordinary, meaningful and connected life.
The group explored Everyday Citizenship through conversation, performance,
artwork, storytelling and shared reflection.
Together, the group created a film and a zine built from real voices,
lived experiences and the Seven Keys to Everyday Citizenship.
Together, the group explored what helps people feel at home, connected,
supported, free, loved and able to live a life with meaning.
Created by the people who lived it.
The conversations became stories. The stories became something people
could watch, read and share.
These are the voices, ideas and experiences of the people who took part,
shared through a film and a zine created together.
Hear the story in their own words.
Listen to the people involved as they share what Everyday Citizenship
means to them and why being heard matters.
Stories, reflections and ideas captured together.
The conversations did not end when the workshops finished.
They became artwork, stories, reflections and lived experiences,
brought together in a collaborative zine created by the people involved.
The Seven Keys to Everyday Citizenship
Everyday Citizenship is built around seven things that everyone needs
to live a good life, make their own choices and feel that they truly belong.
They may look different for every person, but each key matters.
Meaning
Having purpose, hopes, dreams and opportunities to do the things that make life meaningful.
Freedom
Being able to make choices, speak up, be heard and have control over our own lives.
Money
Having enough money to live a good life and a real say in how that money is used.
Home
Having a place that feels safe, personal and truly ours – somewhere we belong.
Help
Getting the right support in a way that builds confidence, choice and independence.
Community
Being welcomed, contributing our gifts and building connections with the people and places around us.
Love
Having meaningful relationships, loving others and knowing that we are loved, valued and important.
The Seven Keys help us listen differently, ask better questions and focus on what really matters in each person’s life.
What it looks like every day
Everyday Citizenship is not simply a framework or an idea. It comes to
life when people are listened to, included, valued and supported to shape
lives that matter to them.
It happens when someone is listened to.
When someone is included.
When someone is trusted.
When someone has the freedom to make their own choices.
This is only the beginning
The conversations, workshops, film, zine and conference were made possible through the generosity of people who chose to support our work.
With your support, we can create more opportunities like these – helping people have their voices heard, shape the future and build lives filled with purpose, belonging and possibility.
Your donation supports The Wilf Ward Family Trust’s charitable work and helps us go further.