Introduction to Empowerment

Welcome to the Empowerment section of our website. We are delighted that you want to learn more about us. 

The Empowerment section of the website contains more pages than other sections, and it is often the section where you will find yourself when you are in a stressful situation and want to equip yourself to take steps to assert your rights (or the rights of a child you care for). Therefore we have used a purple colour theme  for pages in this section for so it is easier to navigate. 

This section contains the following pages:

The Empowerment Project aims to help parents and carers of neurodivergent children learn about their rights and feel confident using them. It brings together volunteers - our “Empowerment Champions” - to work on key issues affecting neurodivergent children and their families. The project also shares real family experiences to raise awareness and drive change across Scotland. 

The Empowerment Project aims to achieving the following goals:

• raise awareness of existing rights of neurodivergent children and their families

• encourage society to respect those rights

• build effective relationships with influential figures who can assist in raising awareness of, and encouraging respect for, these rights

• to upskill volunteers in key empowerment skills and knowledge of relevant legal frameworks

• upskill parents, carers and families in key empowerment skills and knowledge of relevant legal frameworks

At STAND, we often see parents and carers who do not feel strong or confident to claim the rights of the children they care for. This can be because they are tired, overwhelmed, lacking in confidence, or they feel like they don't want to "bother" people. 

We are trying to help you by sharing the experience of other parents and carers in fighting for the rights of the children and neurodivergent children that they care for. We know how difficult it is to have the time or energy to get to grips with everything you will need to know as the parent or carer of a neurodivergent child. We have kept this in mind, and we are developing our Empowerment Materials to bring together all this experience in a way that we hope is easy to digest. 

The Empowerment Project Team volunteers are taking forward workstreams which focus on particular issues that affect neurodivergent children, their parents and carers in Scotland today. Our Workstream page gives more details about what these workstreams are, how they are progressing and what is planned next.

If you have ideas for workstreams that we can take forward please email empowerment@standuk.co.uk and we will will do our best to factor them in to our plans.

The work of STAND is based on three “pillars” of Inclusion, Support, and Empowerment. We believe that these are the values which will underpin the ethos of what we are trying to achieve.

The Empowerment Pillar has the following objectives:

• To increase parents and carers' understanding of the rights of ND children and knowledge and confidence to enforce them.

• To increase society's understanding of the rights of ND children and how to respect them.

• To increase the confidence of parents and carers to assert and enforce the rights of ND children.

If you would like to get involved with the Empowerment Project - as a volunteer, to provide information, or share your lived experience, email us at empowerment@standuk.co.uk.