Page 6 - Leap Evaluation Report 2018

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Background to Leap
Leap is a family-led agency which supports families with children with disabilities to take more control of their lives and to plan and set goals associated with self-direction and resilience. Leap’s work is a social investment which aims to strengthen family and community well-being.
We see people as citizens and co- producers, not clients or consumers of programmes. We invest in their ability to imagine inclusive and sustainable lifestyles, encourage them to mobilise their resources towards positive social action and raise their awareness of the structures and thinking which limit the lives of people with disability.
We encourage families to deepen their relationships and develop stronger networks of support. Through the sharing of stories of success, we encourage families to imagine better. Through the sharing of really useful knowledge, we give families some strategies to sustain positive change and begin to enjoy a life in community on an equal basis as other citizens.
Leap came together in 2012 around
the kitchen table when a group of families wanted to get busy creating not waiting. They understood that there would never be enough resources or money in the system and they realised that community was the answer. They acknowledged that people weren’t really interested in their problems only in what they could contribute to their communities. They established Leap
as a Social Enterprise and set about creating a more hopeful story where families thought about ordinary lives for their sons or daughters. In this new story people were not clients of a segregated service but connected, contributing members of their communities with valued roles.