Celebrating Humans of Scotland

The Humans of Scotland project is a campaign to highlight the voices of disabled people, those with long term conditions and their unpaid carers. Three of our Centre Users, Jill, Clare and Kyle were more than happy to take part. Here are their stories.

Jill Bradshaw’s story focuses on her identity as a deaf person and how she eventually found her calling as a lip reading tutor. Jill leads the lip reading class here at Forth Valley Sensory Centre, helping others, often those who have lost their hearing with age, become more confident in getting out and about in noisy environments. The classes run each thursday, 4:30-6:30pm and new members are always welcome!#

Read Jill’s story here: https://www.alliance-scotland.org.uk/blog/humansofscotland/jills-story-empowering-people-to-communicate-through-lipreading/

Our second ‘human’ is Clare Boland who also relates her experience of being deaf and how society often provides barriers for deaf people. Clare is a trustee on our board and brings lived experience of deafness to our board and helps guide us on best practise as well as funding needs for our deaf Centre Users.

Read Clare’s story here: https://www.alliance-scotland.org.uk/blog/humansofscotland/clares-story-bringing-lived-experience-to-forth-valley-sensory-centre/

Kyle Sommerville is one of our young volunteers working in our Tech Hub to advise people on how to get the most from their digital devices. A keen gamer, Kyle has not let his sight impairment hold him back, even flying a plane with the Centre and RNIB!

You can read Kyle’s story here: https://www.alliance-scotland.org.uk/blog/humansofscotland/kyles-story-volunteering-with-forth-valley-sensory-centre/

All these stories show how important the Centre is to people with sight and hearing impairments across Forth Valley. We would love to help more sensory people write their own story of growth, either publicly or privately.

You can help us do that by supporting us as a Co-op member, taking part in the Stirling Community Lottery, fundraising for us or simply providing a donation. All your support goes to helping our groups, classes and activities. Thank you!