Natural networks such as families sustain us in the long run.

Lena wanted the best carer to be with her daughter Marino... How natural to look for it amongst her whanau - Carina her niece has a young child and is delighted to look after Marino - which allows the whole family to spend more quality time together. This is particularly important for certain time slots that are difficult to get support worker for. Take for instance the early morning shift... getting Marino ready in time to go to school. It is really hard to get a support worker to only come in for an hour in the morning - Carina's children go to the same school, so she brings them along to Marino's house in the morning, then they all go to school together!! On weekends, mum needs to travel for her work - no worries, Carina will make sure that Marino is able to be part of the action - and she does not have to give up caring for her own children in the process - because they love being around Marino!! Individualised funding allows you to choose your own support amongst the people who already love the person needing support - and strengthen the family naturally!!

For those who do not have natural networks around them, building new networks is very important. Families describe how they went about extending both natural and new networks and in what situations these made a significant difference. View a series of interviews about people sharing their stories of what difference building natural supports and networks made to their lives.

What support networks are working for you? Where do you need more support? Who can you ask for help? How about exploring totally new networks?

How can we help the 50,000 or so disabled youth (in New Zealand only) that are unemployed yet burning to find a way to get recognition and contribute? The concept of micro-business is gaining in recognition - and for good reasons! When applied with the right supports (as for all employment matters for the disabled!) micro-businesses support transformative experiences that give both financial freedom, raise self-esteem and provide recognition for the many talents of disabled people! Watch this playlist with more interviews on the topic.

Let's get excited about the possibilities for disabled people to explore novel ways to shape their career pathways. Our people are sick of sitting around waiting for a job offer that is unlikely to materialise! Rather we propose to assist them shape their own work experience... micro-business development offers a step by step method to explore developing a career track starting from the issues they are passionate about and develop new skills on the way!

A flexible approach ensures a safety net still protects the youth as they are learning about the business world. Download this plan here [screenshot below].

We are seeking partners to demonstrate with a proof of concept the value of sharing stories to inspire youth, their parents and support workers to uncover new possibilities - those where they are in control of their future!

This resource is showcased on the UK-based Story Bank on:http://lx.iriss.org.uk/storybank [scroll down the page to "Disabled young people create their own work experience opportunities">.

Terry’s passion is to help disabled people create their own microbusiness. Terry is ready to empower people to build on their passion to “let’s bring your talents to the fore”. Terry can share his experience to help others overcome challenges to become self-employed with the support they need to help them succeed. Terry is collaborating with a polytec to shape a tertiary curriculum so that disabled people can learn about self-employment and get credit for it at the same time – to help in their career for instance to get bank loans. We can fly with our networks! Here are the questions each person needs to answer. Why? Where? Who? What? How? When? Do you need a challenge? Terry is here to help!

Terry is also collaborating with a tertiary institution to create a micro-entrepreneurship course aimed at disabled students... more to come soon!

Click on this playlist to check out some of the stories we have collected as a pilot project.

There are some awesome examples of mainstream business partnering with organisations providing support to disabled people to train and offer open employment - view a video clip example of such an inspiring partnership to craft social integration (screenshot below).

People define success very individually. To some, success means wealth, to others - sharing and being happy. "Success is waking up every morning with a smile on your face, feeling happy about your job, your career and after all the problems a day may bring to still keep smiling!" - says Melissa. How would you define what is a successful life for you - how do you give back to your community and how do you help others?

Watch more stories from young role models on the Young Role Models playlist.

Volunteering is a major social change force, and supporting volunteers to act on their passion to help others is one engine of social change! Listen to what people report as the impact of volunteering here (screenshot of this resource below):

This research was supported by the New Zealand National Commission for the UNESCO and presented at a UNESCO conference. More information here.

What are the mechanisms that foster social integration? There are spread over many disciplines: sociology, psychology, community development, social care, communication, etc...

The mechanisms we chose to test are those that can answer the question: how can we reduce social fear around integrating diverse people? For instance we tested a mechanism that we called 'Intentional invitations'. The movie in this lecture shows how this allowed people from very different backgrounds and capabilities to come together around a common passion - creativity. Follow this project here.

We have reported on the social impact of this intervention; download the draft report here.

This project was supported by a grant from Thinking Differently Campaign.

Helen’s son has fully engaged in the community since leaving school. He holds both paying and volunteer positions as well as in fitness training. He also enjoys taking part in the youth activities organized by his church and has grown to know peers who are also members of these groups so well that he no longer needs a support worker for most of their activities. The family uses different funding pools to pay support staff and help him integrate through his contribution. Download the pdf form below to read about the family's choice to use Individualised Funding hosted via the CCS Disability Action service provider.

Assignment: list community and social groups that you or the person you are supporting could join. Discuss pros and cons, prioritize and start from the top. What are you finding out? What are you enjoying most? Where can you contribute?