The Audacity Of Hope

“Make a way out of no way” 

Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope 

In an increasingly challenging social and economic environment, fostering hope feels audacious, like a
form of resistance. And resist we must.

C-Change is built on relationships. This is our foundational strength. Its core purpose is to support
disabled people to manage and use their individual budgets, to ensure they live their good life. Money is
important, but it is only part of the picture.

C-Change will continue to campaign alongside others for the human rights of disabled people to be
respected, protected, and upheld. The proposed new Human Rights Bill will incorporate into Scots law the
UN’s International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as three UN treaties on race
(CERD), women (CEDAW) and disability (CRPD). It will also include environmental rights, rights for older
people, and an equality clause including provision for LGBTI people.1 The incorporation of international
human rights conventions into domestic law should strengthen the level of accountability for individual
rights holders.

C-Change is a civil society representative on the Scottish National Action Plan for Human Rights (SNAP2)
Leadership Panel. 2 SNAP 2 is a way for rights holders, civil society, and public bodies to work together
to promote and realise rights in Scotland. The organisation will continue to work in allyship with anyone
championing the rights of our fellow citizens to live their good life.

C-Change is an intentional organisation focussed on growing better, not bigger. It will continue to try
and improve support to the people it works for and their families in accordance with both the letter and
the spirit of the Self-Directed Support (Scotland) Act 2013. The legal framework in Scotland that provides
people with support needs the opportunity to exercise choice and control over the support they need to
get on and live a good life.

C-Change will continue to support the development of more ‘small supports organisations’ through the
NDTi Small Supports programme. 3 Also, by fostering the development of Right to Better; a Perth and
Kinross based small supports organisation currently operating as a project of C-Change.

The organisation will also continue to undertake pro-bono work with individuals and families where
it doesn’t provide direct support. This work is generally undertaken as part of an informal network of
individuals, families, and organisations committed to helping others navigate the complex health and
social care landscape.

The social care workforce is an unheralded network of relationships and connections that strengthen
Scottish society. It is as invisible as it is strong. C-Change will continue, alongside others, to champion the
practical implementation of FAIR work practices, including equitable financial recompense for the social
care workforce in recognition of the outstanding contribution to the wellbeing of individuals, families,
neighbourhoods, communities, and the nation.

Social care is a sector based upon the belief that we all need support at different times in our lives and
with the right support we all can flourish. Human flourishing leads to greater contribution which benefits us all.

When we recognise the potential in others, we realise the potential in ourselves for as Barack Obama
wrote:

“What binds us together is greater than what drives us apart.”