Hosted by Jean Hewitt (Buro Happold) and Chris Memmott (NdC Associate)
Joined by Catherine Bennett and Jacky Martel
An introduction to sensory differences and how they can be considered and supported in housing design.
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Catherine (she/her) is CEO of Lets for Life – a registered charity and housing provider specialising in creating personalised housing choices for autistic and disabled people. Catherine helped set it up from scratch in 2014, becoming CEO is 2017 – with the mission of trying to make it simpler for people to find housing – trying to break down the bureaucracy and navigate new ways through a rigid system. She has a particular passion to provide real homes for people who are currently stuck in hospitals.
She is also the mother of 2 daughters and now facing things from the perspective of a parent of an autistic child.
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Associate & Co-Founder
Uses ‘he/him’ pronouns
Chris brings extensive experience supporting change in practice in education and healthcare settings to ensure neurodivergent cultural and communication needs are understood and met. He is great at providing gentle and effective challenge to address poor practice and support services to deliver better outcomes for the neurodivergent populations they serve.
Chris is experienced in providing mentorship and development support to neurodiverse individuals who are struggling to identify and meet their own needs. He does this by sharing his own experience to give insight, identification and understanding.
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Jacky is a parent of two autistic young men. One also has a severe learning disability and sensory processing differences. Jacky and her partner have taken several years to secure the right housing and support for their son, including purchasing a property through the HOLD scheme (home ownership for those with long-term disabilities) and extensive adaptations through a disabled facilities grant that challenged the traditional view of the scheme.
Jacky has supported other families voluntarily through similar issues and given talks to groups about what she learnt through this process. She is a member of an Autism Partnership Board sub-group on housing in Gloucestershire and also works for Access Social Care – a charity that aims to help people access the social care support they have a legal right to.
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Jean is a leading practitioner in the Field of Inclusive Design having specialised in inclusive environments and accessibility for over 20 years. She has special interest in for neurodivergence design considerations and guidance standards.
Jean is technical author for PAS 6463: “Design for the Mind – Neurodiversity and the Built Environment” and longstanding member of the British Standards Institution Committee “Design of an Accessible and Inclusive Environment”.
For the past two years Jean has been the UK Government Disability and Access Ambassador focusing on the Built Environment as appointed by the Minister for Disabled People and managed by the Cabinet Office Disability Unit. The aim is to influence and drive improvements to the accessibility and quality of services and facilities for disabled people.