Partnerships
An update from our partnership with The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
Our £300,000 partnership with The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) aims to reach at least 30,000 young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) by 2024.
The ambition is to increase the number of centres, such as schools and youth groups, offering DofE to young people with SEND and train hundreds of Leaders – trained individuals supporting groups of young people through their DofE journeys.
The programme has been designed to make DofE participation possible for students with diverse difficulties and disabilities. It helps the students build crucial personal life skills, develop employability skills, and become more independent. It aims to offer students the same experiences as their peers in mainstream education. One success story has been that of Theo.
Theo, 16, is described by everyone he knows as a curious, enthusiastic problem-solver who isn’t afraid of a challenge. Theo also has a massive passion for computers and all things technology and is a self-professed “computer geek” whose love of coding has helped him overcome some of the challenges he faces daily.
Theo was born blind from a recessive hereditary condition, so he can only see light and dark. Theo has not let his visual impairment stop him from achieving anything he puts his mind to, and his mum, Elin, has described herself as “running to keep up with Theo” from the moment he started moving.
From an early age, Theo has been passionate about science. When he faced a barrier with weighing the materials needed for his practicals in his science lessons, he felt disappointed and robbed of his independence. He decided to use his ingenuity to tackle the problem. Theo invented “Talking Balance,” a scientific scale that reads out the precise weight when measuring different materials as part of his DofE Volunteering section.
Theo’s invention, which he will soon be launching to the public completely free, means he can now fully participate in his practicals in science lessons. Theo hopes that, through “Talking Balance”, blind and visually impaired young people will feel more empowered to contribute to this field and won’t experience this barrier to accessing STEM.
Ben was a massive support to Theo. They met through LOOK UK – a charity that helps blind children and their families thrive, by offering them a mentor with a visual impairment. Ben is a software engineer at the BBC and was paired up with Theo to support him and provide his guidance as a fellow blind person working in technology.
I’m blind, which means that I do some things differently, but equally, in other ways, I’m just the same as everybody else. It feels like a tiny thing, not being able to weigh something, but it adds up – and it becomes just one more thing to add to all the ways that blind people are excluded. It felt amazing to be nominated for Innovator of the Year. Even before I knew I had won, it felt great to be in the running and for ‘Talking Balance’ to get the attention it deserved.
We help youngsters like Theo to realise their potential and achieve greatness by supporting the DofE’s work in the Additional Needs space.
