SANDWELL ASIAN FAMILY SUPPORT SERVICE

Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Families with disabled children share their lives, hopes and journeys on Community TV Programme.

Include Me TOO in partnership with Sangat TV are producing several community programmes with BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) families with disabled children and young people.

The first programme has been aired on Tuesday 14th May 2013 at 8.30pm on Sky Channel 847 (Sangat TV). In this programme Asian parents with disabled children share their families journeys and provide personal testimonies which range from discussing their hopes, faiths and strengths. The programme is the first of several which will provide greater awareness and understanding regarding families with disabled children from BAME communities; aiming to remove barriers of ignorance and encouraging communities to talk about disability, inclusion, equality and respect. Programmes to be aired in the future include BAME parents sharing their experiences of having children with autism and fathers discussing issues that matter to them in regards to having a disabled child.

For any further information please do get in contact on im2@includemetoo.org.uk or 01902 399888 / 01902 711604

SAFSS would like to say a heartfelt thanks to a family who donated monies for us to buy a Ninetendi Wii for our children and young people. The family who lost a loved one last year was also a friend of SAFSS, donated the money raised from the flowers to 2 charities, SAFSS was one of them. The donation was greatly appreciated by the families supported by SAFSS.

RAAJ FM is a local Asian commnuty radio station, they were keen to open up discussions on disability issues to ‘raise awareness’ of disability within the Asian community.

The programme provided a platform for individuals to talk about the good things as well as the difficulties they may have faced. SAFSS families spoke about their stories of living with a disability and the effect it has on the individual and the family, difficulties in engaging with interpreting services, accessible translated materials, family dynamics, engagement with services and how they did or didn’t work, their interaction within the wider community and the great services they have accessed in Sandwell.

This was a great opportunity for SAFSS and Ideal for All to raise awareness, educate the community, inspire people and families to access and use services, tackle misconceptions of disability and a terrific opportunity to promote our services to the community.

SAFFS would like to thank all of the families who took part in this event and for promoting the services we provide with so much passion.

If you would like to listen to the interviews which were aired on 20th February,please follow this link http://www.raajfm.com