The Disabilities Trust is a leading UK charity providing support for people with complex needs

Following an announced inspection of HMP Leeds, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) has highlighted The Disabilities Trust Foundation’s Specialist Brain Injury Linkworker service as “an exciting response to the unmet needs of the significant proportion of prisoners with a history of brain injury and attendant problems.”

It was Brain Injury Awareness Week this week and each of BIRT’s services celebrated with different and entertaining ideas. The week started on Monday with staff at BIRT offices in Westgate Court holding a Brain Injury Awareness Week ‘brain boosting’ breakfast that included scrambled eggs and bacon butties, fruit, waffles and Danish pastries.

It's Brain Injury Awareness Week this week and BIRT is marking the occasion with the culmination of many weeks of baking activity. Across the Trust, service users with support from staff have been highlighting the skills that they have regained through Brain Injury Rehabilitation with the Trust by entering into 'The Grand BIRT Bake Off' which will be judged by Masterchef's Dhruv Baker.

The Disabilities Trust and the Care and Support Alliance are working together to highlight the underfunded social care system which continues to see working age disabled and elderly individuals miss out on the vital care and support they need. There has been a strong indication that the upcoming Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) in June will see further cuts to try and reduce the deficit, we are concerned this will negatively impact on our service users, their families and carers.

The ability to use assistive technology for communications has been life-changing for some of our service users. A variety of devices have already give individuals a voice and a way to live a more fulfilled, integrated and independent life, with choice. We are therefore launching an appeal to raise money for new assistive technology devices for all of our Disability Lifestyles services in the UK. Our aim is to provide a full range of assistive technology devices, including eye trackers for each of our six Disability Lifestyles services across England. This is a big task, so, we are launching our appeal and you can help us on the road to making a difference.