Charity provides 'social and emotional' support

Rachael Gump said the charity had helped her through a huge change in her life

A person supported by a disability charity in Cornwall says it has helped her both "socially and emotionally".

Rachael Gump who became disabled in 2020, just before Covid-19, said she had been helped through the huge change in her life by Active8.

The charity is marking its 35th anniversary with a "walk, wheel and roll" challenge along The Camel Trail - from Wenford Bridge to Padstow - on Saturday.

The charity said it helped young people aged 14 to 30 in Cornwall by organising trips and days out to "help empower them to become autonomous and active in their communities".

Rachael said it had been extremely difficult becoming disabled at a time of social confinement.

"I went through the isolation of being disabled on top of needing to shield for that 18 months, which was quite hard, and I think Activate8 really helped me kind of realise it's not so bad," she said.

"It's not so isolating - there's plenty of different options, there's plenty of different ways you can grow into this, I think socially and emotionally, it's definitely helped me."

The 25-year-old said Active8 had supported her with new experiences and also given her opportunities to strengthen her skill set - including working as a peer mentor for younger people.

She said: "We've been through peer mentoring training to make sure that we know how it works and so that we can kind of guide the younger ones through.

"It's actually really helpful to have someone like that because I think disability can be quite isolating, especially somewhere like Cornwall."

'Changed my life'

The charity is one of 10 Cornish voluntary groups to have been nominated for a King's Award for Voluntary Services at the beginning of October.

Active8 activity co-ordinator Tom Howard said his role had changed his life.

He said: It's amazing really, it's changed my entire viewpoint on the world - I'm an absolute stickler for walking around now and sussing out access to places, it's just part of who I am now.

"But it's also given me a new set of frustrations as well because I know that, Cornwall in particular, but just the wider world still has such a long way to go with inaccessibility."

'A great event'

Mr Howard said during his time at the charity he had seen its young people "start to grow" and become more confident.

He said: "It's really, really inspiring and inspiring is a word you throw around a lot but it does mean something with these guys - I think they they really do have to take some credit for that."

Mr Howard said the charity wanted to make itself known to everyone in the county with its "walk, wheel and roll" challenge.

He said: "Half of the battle that we face in this part of the world is that if you're not shouting and screaming from the tops of roofs, people don't necessarily know about you.

"People are going to see us - people will stop us and ask questions and it's just going to be a really great event."