Success for Cedar Foundation User Forum

A capacity crowd attended the recent Cedar Foundation User Forum Conference at the impressive Lagan Valley Island Civic Centre, Lisburn.

They were at the Centre to find out how much had been achieved during the last year by The Cedar Foundation and its User Forum. The Forum is a group of disabled people whose aim is to Make a Positive Difference to The Cedar Foundation and to the lives of other disabled people. This was the third annual conference held by The User Forum and the first time it was staged in the Lisburn area.

The Forum was delighted to welcome the Deputy Mayor of Lisburn, Councillor Trevor Lunn, to the Conference as well as special guest Monica Wilson, Chief Executive of Disability Action, who spoke of her own personal journey as a disabled person. The audience also got to hear from Niall Irwin, Chairman of The User Forum, on the progress that has been made by the forum over the past year. This included increased awareness of the User Forum across Northern Ireland and the production of promotional literature. The Forum also attends quarterly meetings with the Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive of The Foundation and has involvement in Strategic Planning and Evaluation. Clearly the group is being taken seriously and their views are being listened to by experts and professionals alike.

Raymond Kirk, User Forum Committee, had a major role in organising the conference and was pleased to see the outcome: “This is the first time the conference has been in the Lisburn area, it’s a brilliant venue and all the staff we dealt with were very professional. The Conference was fantastic with a great turnout. There has been a lot of interest in joining the User Forum and is has been an all round success. Plans are already underway to arrange next year’s conference, the only problem will be how to make it bigger and better but I’m sure we’ll find a way!”

Anne McAleer, User Forum Independent Facilitator, spoke of one of the highlights of the year, the Barcelona Conference on Supported Employment. Anne and Niall went to the conference as User Forum representatives; they had a keen interest in supported employment and wanted to increase the User Forum’s knowledge on the subject. Anne made a presentation to over 500 people at the conference, a real achievement.

Anne explains more: “Supported Employment enables people with disabilities to gain paid employment with support. It initially provides 1-1 support in the workplace for the disabled person, gradually withdrawing and building up natural support so that people with physical disability can be integrated into the workplace. The conference gave us the opportunity to learn so much about the subject, especially from a European point of view. It was a great personal experience and I was really pleased to have represented The Cedar Foundation”.

The audience also heard from Stephen Mathews, Chief Executive of The Cedar Foundation, on how the organisation has grown and what it has achieved over the last year. Raymond Kirk spoke about a most enjoyable team building weekend at the Share Centre in Fermanagh, where disabled people had the chance to go swimming for the first time in years, there was filming making, t-shirt printing and even a speedboat ride!

Janine Rainey finished off the conference by telling everyone about the User Forum’s fashion show organised and starring disabled people, held at Wellington Park Hotel, to raise funds for The Cedar Foundation.

If you would like to find out what the User Forum us all about then contact: Anne McAleer, Independent Facilitator, The User Forum, The Cedar Foundation, 1 Upper Lisburn Road, Belfast, BT10 0GW or Tel: 028 9061 2424.

If you would like to find out more details about The Cedar Foundation please log on to www.cedar-foundation.org, e-mail: info@cedar-foundation.org or tel: 028 9066 6188.

(SP)