New guide to help people with disabilities in Essex to lead better lives

Image for new disability survey to help disabled people in Essex lead better lives

Essex County Council and the Meaningful Lives Matter team are launching a new guide to help people with disabilities in Essex shape their future.

The guide, called Shaping My Future, will act as an invaluable resource in helping people have conversations and consider changes that could lead to better lives.

The guide was commissioned by Essex County Council and developed by Together Matters alongside an expert reference group in response to research carried out in 2019 to better understand the lived experiences of people with physical disabilities living in Essex.

The research found that the overarching themes people with lived experience of disability in Essex spoke about included:

  • feeling options are limited, such as where to live, how to get good support and having a job
  • lacking optimism and aspiration about the future
  • experiencing loneliness and social exclusion

The Shaping My Future guide was written to address these concerns and help people think through, and make decisions about, possible changes that would improve their life.

To do this the interactive guide contains national and local information and is helpfully divided into six clear sections.

To download the Shaping My Future guide or find out more about work to support Adults with Disabilities in Essex please visit www.essex.gov.uk/Shaping-My-Future