AFK

AFK (formerly Action For Kids) is a national charity supporting disabled children, young people and their families. We help prepare young people with learning disabilities and autism for life after school through our accredited education, training and work experience programmes. We also provide mobility equipment not available on the NHS to disabled children and young people up to age 25 across the UK. Our focus is on a young person’s potential and aspirations, not the apparent barriers they face. This is part of the social model of disability, which says that disability is caused by negative attitudes and exclusion within society, rather than the individual’s impairment. This is different to the medical model of disability, which simply looks at the functions of the body and whether it conforms to what’s seen as ‘normal’. Here at AFK we work to address and remove the social barriers that disable people, by providing mobility equipment, education support, skills training and helping young people secure work placements. We believe these services are an essential part of helping young people succeed. We believe it’s our social and economic structures that stop disabled people from living an engaged and fulfilling life, not the impairment or disability. This is what we tell our students and trainees: you don’t need to change; society does.