Giving back to Sense after four decades of support

Empowering the people we support to try new things, discover hobbies they love, and make the most of new opportunities has always been important to us.

For Susan, who we’ve supported for over 40 years, her passion for architecture and design led her to an incredible opportunity to be involved in a pioneering Sense project.

Susan has been receiving personalised support from Sense since she was a teenager. She’s now 60, and lives in a Sense home in Birmingham.

Born deafblind, Susan has always been passionate about architecture and design. In 2014, Sense began planning a pioneering new community centre called Sense TouchBase Pears in Birmingham. This accessible hub would provide specialised services for disabled people, as well as inclusive events for the whole community. Susan jumped at the chance to get involved, moving from Lincolnshire to be closer to the project.

Susan went to site visits, planning sessions and meetings, and met with Sense staff, volunteers, businesses and parliamentarians to get them excited about the development. She also completed a work placement with the project’s architects, using her lived experience to consult on design and accessibility features. Many of Susan’s ideas were incorporated into the final building, like ensuring contrasting colours were used to highlight the doors of accessible bathrooms, making them more visible to people with visual impairments.

In 2016, Susan performed for Sense’s patron, HRH The Princess Royal, to raise awareness of Sense TouchBase Pears before it opened. Later that year, she was named “Deafblind Person of the Year” at the Sense Awards for her contributions.

Today, Susan continues to explore her passion for architecture, venturing to cities like Rome, Germany, and Croatia with Sense’s support.

At Sense, we’re experts at providing support, but we also know the people we support are experts too. With the help of Susan, we built an accessible community centre that brings disabled people and the wider public together, now and in the future.