Travelling with confidence thanks to Motability
March 2024 – We are delighted to announce that SIA has been awarded a significant grant from the Motability Foundation.
More than 700,000 disabled people receive their cars, wheelchair accessible vehicles, scooters, and powered wheelchairs through the Motability Scheme. The Motability Foundation funds, supports, researches, and innovates so that all disabled people can make the journeys they choose.
After a thorough application process, the Motability Foundation confirmed a grant of £800,000 to SIA over two years through their Travelling with Confidence Grant programme.
Travel is regularly reported as challenging for the spinal cord injury community (SCI) and those with disabilities more widely. Between 64% and 90% of respondents to our 2023 What Matters? survey highlighted difficulties with access to the outdoors and countryside, parking, shopping, hotels, leisure, public transport, air travel, and blue badge schemes. Furthermore, 35% of people reported access to wheelchairs and mobility equipment as their main concern related to daily life with SCI. We know that poor wheelchair provision directly impacts people’s confidence and independence to make journeys.
SIA’s brand-new project aims to improve the skills and knowledge of the spinal cord injury community to travel independently and confidently. We will build on our digital resource, the SIA Knowledge Hub, to boost the information available specific to active travel and making journeys.
Mark Ridler, SIA’s director of programmes, said: “Confidence to travel is a major prerequisite to engaging with family, access to a livelihood, maintaining a social life and, in other words, living a fulfilled life. This relies on knowledge and the necessary tools and access. This amazing award will enable SIA to greatly enhance member education, access to wheelchairs, and public awareness. We seek to transform the lives of 4,000 people in the first year and through systematic change, ultimately tens of thousands of people accessing all the travel support and advocacy they need.”
Lisa Jones, director of charitable operations at the Motability Foundation said: “We’re delighted to award Spinal Injuries Association (SIA) with this grant to work with the spinal cord injury community to support them to travel independently and confidently. SIA will build on their SIA Knowledge Hub, to embed travel support and confidence building, which is essential in enabling disabled people to live independently. Awarding grants to important local organisations like the Spinal Injuries Association helps us to make an immediate difference to the transport needs of disabled people.”
As part of the project SIA has recruited several specialist roles, including therapists, a project advisor, project lead, and an administration assistant. We look forward to sharing more about the project and plans going forward.
“A huge thank you to the Motability Foundation for recognising the role SIA plays in driving change for disabled people.”
If you would like to share your experiences with travel or get involved with the project through activities such as focus groups, please email [email protected].
