The Expanding Worlds Podcast Debra Caldow

The transition from education to employment for young people with additional needs requires planning in order to be effective. In this episode with Vinny De Falco from Think Forward we talk about the importance of early transition planning and how a structured and supportive transition program with personalized coaching can help young people develop the skills and confidence they need. We also talk about the need for collaboration and knowledge sharing among everyone, including families, involved in supporting the young person.
https://thinkforward.org.uk/

It's a solo episode this week and I'm talking about the role that expectations have in the way we support and inspire our young people to achieve all they are capable of. Our expectations of them guide their expectations of themselves and can also help them to ignore the low expectations of others. 
 
 

The use of technology is embedded into our work lives and for people with additional needs it is often assistive technology that enables them to do their job. But often the right technology is not in place or provided by employers and that is one of the topics discussed in this episode of the podcast with my guest in this week’s episode Alex Barker from AbilityNet. Alex discusses why it is as much about mindset as it is about the technology itself when it comes to making sure that the right technology is provided for employees to do their jobs most effectively.
https://abilitynet.org.uk/
 

When we think of assistive technology or any technology that can support our young people with additional needs to become more independent, we often start at the point of thinking it could be expensive or complicated to learn to use. But the reality is that today the first bit of assistive technology that our young people should access is their phone or tablet. The built-in features of these devices have changed the way we think about assistive technology as my guest in this week’s episode Alex Barker from AbilityNet explains. Alex brings, his lived experience, and how he uses assistive technology, both in his role at AbilityNet and in his life to discuss why we need to make better use of what is easily accessible to all of us.
https://abilitynet.org.uk/

When we think of community, we first think about the friendship element of being around other people. But there is more to being part of a community than just that. When we become part of a community, we have the opportunity to learn from those around us.  These are the other benefits of being in a community. And why this is such an important part of community is the focus of the second part of my conversation with Sarah Towler from CASPA. We all know community is important but it's not just about the people, it's what we learn from being around those people. 
https://caspabromley.org.uk/
 

Community is defined as people with common interests living in a particular area but in reality, it’s less about location and more about belonging, about connection and feeling part of something. In this episode, my guest is Sarah Towler and the organization we are talking about is CASPA which does all of these things and more. CASPA stands for Community Autistic Support Pride and Advocacy, and it provides a variety of support services to autistic/neurodivergent children and adults and their families. In our conversation, we talked about why community is so important and the ways CASPA supports its community. Having people to support us through the good and bad times will always be important and part of what makes us all human. 
https://caspabromley.org.uk/