We’re in the business of changing lives. Ever since our daughter was written off at birth as having nothing to offer society we’ve not stopped changing perceptions of what’s possible. Earlier this year she received a British Empire Medal in the King’s birthday honours list.
The organisation we created to support our daughter, Jen, who has Down’s syndrome, to dance in her community back in 2009 has grown and expanded beyond our wildest dreams. We’ve always believed in possibilities for a better future for everyone with a learning disability and have never given up in our dreams of being able to choose how each of us lives our lives.
Ten years on from DanceSyndrome becoming a charity and we’re at the next step of change. We’re in the business of changing lives and now we have a business model that we know works, we’re ready for transforming more lives.
Our friend, Tracey-Jane, listens to Malcolm and Julie the Managing Director of DanceSyndrome talk about the business of changing lives. You can watch the whole conversation here: https://youtu.be/PH7TLdZcck0
Key points from the conversation – The business of changing lives
00:03 Introducing Julie Nicholson, Managing Director of DanceSyndrome and
01:06 Malcolm Blackwell, father of Jen who has Down’s syndrome, “I bring my business experience into what DanceSyndrome does, bringing about the change that that we’re all looking for”
01:40 Brief history of DanceSyndrome, started by Sue and Malcolm with their first born daughter Jen who wanted to be a community dance leader and they couldn’t find the right opportunity for her.
03:51 “DanceSyndrome started with 14 members, an equal split of seven dancers with disabilities and seven without who started dancing together… It’s where co-production model started…”
06:42 “What we do doesn’t exist elsewhere. DanceSyndrome improves softer skills that people gain in terms of confidence and teamwork, but also how it isolates loneliness. And, and that actually, people feel, they feel really connected, and they’re part of the family, essentially, and that just doesn’t exist anywhere else. On top of that, there’s all the health and well being outcomes, and the fact that people are being active. Dance is just fun. Like, it just gives you a good feeling when you dance. And as we said, DanceSyndrome, everybody can dance. And there’s beauty and significance in everyone’s movements.
07:55 “It isn’t just about the dance, the dance is a vehicle for what it brings… an opportunity to really make a difference within the community and offer something back rather than always being seen as someone with a need.”
09:01 “We’ve developed a leadership training course for individuals to gain transferable skills for people with learning disabilities. They’re invisible role models [inspiring others] to think I could achieve that”.
“These are professionals… always striving for more. We are always looking at these progression pathways and how we can continuously develop people and develop their skills and and give them real meaning to what they do.”
10:03 “We’re changing people’s perceptions of what people with a learning disability can do, and changing their views of what they should expect…. We offer hope of what the future can be like for people”
11:16 “We’ve got some great partnerships, with NHS, public health England… we’re trying to reach the general public”
12:05 “One of the brilliant things that DanceSyndrome is teaching me is that we don’t know what’s possible. But actually, what DanceSyndrome is doing is opening up opportunities to that possibility for everybody to reach their potential, and to explore, what they love”
13:20 “The importance of the individual is so key to us. Every single person brings something different to the table, and everybody can learn from each other. And then that’s how you know, how we grow and give meaning and purpose to people being part of the organisation”
14:28 “this organisation has grown organically by listening to their needs, and the ideas of the people within it.”
15:13 “Within business, one of the big mistakes businesses make is assuming that, the manager knows best and the guy who’s actually doing the job doesn’t. If you really want to get the best out of people, you have to listen to what they’re saying.
And I think with DanceSyndrome, it’s about taking … all of that energy and enthusiasm and drive and skill and professionalism and changing people’s lives.”
16:35 “In terms of the community dance sessions, the process we go through is that a dance artist and a dance leader will spend an hour planning that session every single week. So there’s, there’s a whole process that goes on, and then they go into the community space and co-lead, delivering the plan that they’ve worked on together”
“In terms of our performance company, there’s 14 dancers at the moment with all different learning disabilities, and our dance artists who have worked together through quite a rigorous process, to put together a show that’s going to go on tour now, both at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and across the Northwest. But that is enabled everybody’s voices to be heard.
It’s not come without its challenges. By all means, but it’s an inclusive process.”
“In terms of DanceSyndrome as an organisation, you know, we always include the voices of people with learning disabilities…I think that that’s part of the key to our success, really, as an organisation.”
18:19 “It’s that inclusivity that I think is so important. But it comes at a cost. As a charity it’s not a cheap model the way in which we operate. But it’s what’s required. It has huge benefits and makes huge delivery.
“We’ve learned over the years is that it’s not, project based funding that you really need, although that’s the way a lot of the grant organisations work. You need something that gives continuity, you need that longevity in the on in the journey, because it is a journey.
“What happens to all those people that you’ve impacted over the time of a project – you’ve touched them,you’ve raised their expectation and their skill levels, but then suddenly, it stops when you can’t do that.
“So it’s how you break away from the sort of three year grant cycle. And every three years, it’s got to be a different project into something that actually brings you the longevity and the consistency that’s required.
“And cost of living and crisis makes getting donations harder, and it makes it but it also means that it’s that it’s it’s more worthwhile, because it’s needed more.”
19:41 “We are a charity, but I think we operate in a business sense because we do have a really diverse income stream and we cannot ever become grant reliant”
“We have been [in business] for 13 years now. So we have learned a lot along the way.
“We can bring real value to businesses, particularly around, inclusion training and what we’ve learned about working inclusively with people with learning disabilities. There’s a lot of value that businesses would benefit from that.
“Thinking about our methodology, how they might adapt that in their own work environment and their work practices. And that’s a part of the business we want to develop more”
21:08 “We need people who want to think outside the box…. it’s not a normal business model… showing [people] doing things in a different way. And being innovative is actually what you really want in any business.
“There’s a number of benefits of us going in and giving that sort of training, getting people to really think much wider… It’s not just about a bit of dreaming, this is much much wider than that.”
22:16 “I think if organisations are aspiring to change and to be different and to stand out, then we can help them absolutely with that, and, and share our expertise. Think about not just inclusion, but digging deeper, and thinking about what is fair and equitable, and how you really, I guess, enable people to reach their full potential, because we do that all the time.
But the people that come to us, and from a business perspective, you want your employees to reach their full potential and do the best job they can. We can offer a lot of value.”
23:11 “It’s not about ticking a box, that we’ve done, inclusion training, because what you deliver is changing the lives of those people in that room. So you’re going to change the lives of those people in that room forever. Because they are seeing what inclusion is, and how everybody in society is valuable, and has more potential.”
23:56 “Ever since I’ve been here at DanceSyndrome, I notice it everywhere and every walk of life. Is this place accessible? Is a form accessible to fill in? Are there any instructions? Are they accessible? Can I follow them? And you do recognise inclusion in a different way as well, like being included in thinking about how you include other people.
“So I think in business, it’s like, how teams work well together. Every individual play plays a part in creating effective teams.”
24:42 “You’ve also got a whole population of people with a learning disability. That’s an untapped resource. And if you can learn to tap into that resource, there’s a huge economic benefit from being able to do that.”
24:59 “What we’re trying to do is, is there an employability route for individuals with learning disabilities?
What we offer is keeping people healthy, keeping them out of hospitals, it’s keeping them less dependent. And we give them something even beyond what we do as we know that our leadership training offers such transferable skills.
So, people might have an aspiration to go to work, just a few hours a week, somewhere outside of DanceSyndrome, as well. So we are looking at that. And again, all of those individuals bring such value to work environments.”
25:45 “What people often don’t see, and it’s the same with any growing business is that, sometimes there’s new strands that you sort of take on because you know this is needed. And we’re just gonna go and do this over here.
And suddenly, it becomes the next big thing. But it’s still needed, and you’re still making an impact and you say, “how did that happen? We didn’t plan for that.” But that’s just you being an entrepreneurial organisation and innovating, to support the needs of the people in the community where you’re working.
26:29 “In the beginning, when we started it for Jen, we were amazed that we got the response we did, and just how many people it impacted, and how many it continues to impact because it grew. It’s grown well outside of what we ever imagined it would be, and just shows you the power that it that it has in the way in which you operate.
26:53 “We hear time and time again, like it did at the beginning, people don’t know what they would do if we didn’t exist, because we are so different.
“It’s fundamental to people’s lives, we run all year round. You know, we don’t just run termly, because, you know, adults don’t have school holidays. We’re there all year round to offer our community classes and to have that provision.
“And we know, people with learning disabilities like a routine. They like to know, week after week, what they’re doing, where they go. And it’s instilled in them. So, we never want to take that way.”
27:42 “It seems that there is so much that DanceSyndrome does already offer and can offer to other groups, other organisations, other businesses, in terms of, your training, your expertise, as well as making an impact on people’s lives in their communities.
28:25 Contact me, Julie Nicholson at DanceSyndrome.co.uk
If you’re ready to be in the business of changing lives, we’d love to help you – send us an email and let’s talk.