Towards Better Places Together: PLACED x Options
At PLACED, we believe that when it comes to the places where we live, work and play, everyone deserves the opportunity to be heard. Over the last few years, our collaborations and projects with Options have reflected this mission to create a more inclusive built environment. Options is a charity that supports people with disabilities to live in their own homes with support. They cover the Wirral, Liverpool and Sefton areas and work with housing associations to find suitable properties. Their vision is a better world for people with disabilities, and for 30 years, they have been supporting, empowering and enabling people with disabilities to live their lives to the full.
We were first introduced to Options when we were delivering public engagement activities for the Birkenhead 2040 Framework – an ambitious 20-year regeneration plan developed by Wirral Council to transform Birkenhead. We met Christine Bithell, who is Options’ Community Engagement and Development Manager, at BirkenEd’s Place, our urban room and dedicated space for Birkenhead 2040 consultations. Christine was keen for us to capture the views of the people she works with and ensure their voices would be heard amongst the upcoming regeneration plans in Birkenhead.
People with disabilities are a less-heard voice within the built environment, and all too often, they find themselves restricted by features of buildings and public spaces. Knowing that working with Options would provide a crucial opportunity to listen to a key underrepresented group, we organised a workshop at Equilibrium North West CIC in Birkenhead (known locally as ‘the Livvy’). In this interactive workshop, we captured the views of Options, Together All Are Able, and Wirral Mencap to feed into the public engagement for the Birkenhead Waterfront and Surrounds project. We spoke about areas like Woodside, Hamilton Square and Argyle Street, the challenges people with disabilities face when walking, wheeling and using public transport, and how public spaces could be improved for those with neurodiversity and learning disabilities.
Following this workshop, we included the findings within our evaluation report, which would be shared with Wirral Council. However, we wanted to ensure that those who participated in the workshop could remember and reflect on what they had contributed. This led to the production of an Easy Read document, which fed back the findings from the Livvy workshop. None of the PLACED team had ever created an Easy Read before, but we found the process incredibly insightful and a valuable learning experience. An Easy Read is a way of showing written-down information that makes it easier to read. Easy Read is a visual representation of information without using jargon or complex language, combining images and text to support sharing information with people. A feedback loop is a key part of the process; feedback and comments are provided by future users of the document, and changes are made to reflect these. Options would share feedback with us and took great care in explaining their feedback, so we could learn from the experience - and we learned a great deal.
“Working alongside PLACED has been refreshing and engaging, PLACED are always eager to learn and share their knowledge and are dedicated to true inclusion. Having the same values and vision helps us continue to support each other and share opportunities.”
We were proud to produce our first ever PLACED Easy Read document, and back at BirkenEd’s Place, many local people with learning disabilities were regularly coming in to visit us. They became familiar faces who’d often pop in for a cuppa and a chat. These experiences made us consider how we could enhance our engagement work with our developing relationship with Options and continue to build upon the accessible approach to communication from our Easy Read learning. This led to further conversation at Options’ offices in Liverpool, and the PLACED team taking part in a bespoke workshop, led by Christine Bithell, providing guidance and discussion on ways in which we can continue to make our work more accessible.
A special highlight in our relationship with Options was a couple of weeks back at our inaugural Better Places Together conference. Hosted at BOXPARK Liverpool, Better Places Together was an event that explored how rethinking the approach to engagement and social value can create better places for everyone. Better Places Together was different from the conventional conference; there were no speakers and long talks, but instead diverse storytellers sharing their experiences and interactive sessions filled with group activities and collaboration. To further support this approach, we knew we wanted groups in the room that normally would not be present at built environment conferences. We wanted powerholders and built environment professionals at the event to be in the same room as lesser-heard voices from our communities.
Staff from and individuals supported by Options and Together All Are Able, a Wirral-based organisation run by and for people with disabilities, were invited to the conference to actively participate in storytelling and activities on the day. Options and TAAA actively took part in the day’s activities with active discussion, highlighting the importance of coproduction and gathering local perspectives through accessible and meaningful community engagement. Christine Bithell and Jenny Carter (Director of Together All Are Able) were storytellers at the event and told everyone about the places that Options and Together All Are Able love and why. These were places that have enhanced the quality of their lives and places they have felt represented as people with disabilities. Many attendees at the conference spoke of how great Christine and Jenny’s story was, and it felt like a special moment in which PLACED and Options’ work came together in an inspiring and powerful way.
Options’ commitment to inclusivity, participation and coproduction aligns with the values and ethos of PLACED. We wish to build on this wonderful relationship we are developing as we continue to work towards better places together.