Who we work with
We work with Deaf and Disabled people and carers in Bromley and neighbouring Boroughs.
Our definition of Disabled person
As we follow the Social Model of Disability, our definition of Disabled person includes anyone who is being discriminated against or disabled by barriers in society, including:
- People with physical impairment
- People with visual impairment
- Deaf people
- People with hearing impairment
- People who are neurodivergent, including autism and ADHD
- People with learning difficulties/disabilities
- People who experience mental health conditions/mental distress
- People with long-term health conditions, including chronic illness and energy limiting chronic illness
We recognise that a lot of these impairments are invisible and many people have more than one impairment.
Our definition of carer
When we talk about carers, we mean parents and family or friend carers of Disabled people who are unpaid, not professional carers.
Language
According to the Social Model of Disability, the term ‘people with disabilities’ implies disability is something caused by the individual, rather than society. Instead, we use the term ‘Disabled people’ to describe people with impairments who are disabled by barriers in society.
We use a capital D for ‘Disabled’ and ‘Deaf’ to describe the shared, disabling experiences that people with impairments face in society.
We understand that not everyone uses the same language to describe themselves. We recognise people’s right to use any language they want to describe themselves.
What is important to us is remembering that however we describe ourselves, we are one big community of people experiencing disabling barriers. So, we choose to use the social model term “Disabled people” to describe our whole community.