Kathy’s doing the things she loves

Through our experience of supporting people, we know that people live more fulfilled lives when they are supported to make their own choices. We work with each individual to explore and identify opportunities to extend their independent living skills, interests, talents and experiences. We often use assistive technology to ensure that people are able to communicate their aspirations and make informed choices.

Kathy lives in Brecon and is supported by mirus keyworker Rebecca. She has recently started using Widgit Writer on her iPad, which allows Kathy and her support workers to create symbol-supported documents to communicate her thoughts, feelings and needs more effectively.

Since using the app, she and her support workers sit down together once a month to plan a wider range of activities and plot representative images on a calendar so that Kathy can easily understand which activities are coming up.

Rebecca says: “The Widgit app has opened up more flexibility and choice for Kathy – she saw an advert for Dreamboys on TV and was able to use the app to communicate that she wanted to go. It’s now in Kathy’s calendar and she is really excited!”

Although Kathy likes routine, she lacked the flexibility to change plans last minute as she found it difficult to communicate her needs. With the Widgit Writer, Kathy can easily let staff know if she no longer wants to do the planned activity and suggest and agree alternatives, which increases the choice and control she has over her life.

The Widget Writer has had the added benefit of enabling Kathy to communicate how she is feeling with medical professionals, which has led to her feeling healthier.