Today we are sharing an important campaign from one of our partners, Disability Rights UK (DRUK). DRUK is the UK’s leading Disabled People’s Organisation (DPO), led and run by Disabled people. In this blog, People’s Voice Media’s Head of Partnerships and Practice, Isaac Samuels, explains why this campaign is so important to them as a Disabled person:
As a queer Disabled person, I know how powerful it can be when someone takes the time to listen, to go beyond the words to truly understand our experiences, our challenges, our hopes and our dreams.
For too long, Disabled people, and especially those of us with multiple identities, have had decisions made about us without us. Our experiences can be overlooked, our barriers misunderstood, and our voices pushed to the side. But our stories matter. Our knowledge matters. Our lived experience is expertise.
This is an important opportunity for Disabled people and allies to help shape the future of disability rights work and ensure that the priorities reflect what people are actually experiencing in their everyday lives.
For me, creating change starts with listening. It starts with recognising that every person’s experience is different, whether that relates to disability, identity, access, healthcare, employment, relationships, community or simply being able to live life with dignity and choice.
As someone who believes deeply in the power of lived experience, co-production and inclusion, I know how important it is that our voices are part of the conversation. We should not just be invited into spaces after decisions have been made. We should be involved from the beginning.
I am asking my networks, friends, colleagues and communities to please support this important work. If you are Disabled, have lived experience, support Disabled people, or care about equality and inclusion, your voice can help make a difference.
Thank you to Disability Rights UK for continuing to champion Disabled people’s rights and for creating opportunities for people’s voices to shape the future.
Our voices are powerful. Our experiences matter. Our stories can create change.
Gaddum is an organisation based in Manchester that offers mental health and carer support services. Over autumn and winter 2025/26, People’s Voice Media held online training workshops to teach Gaddum’s peer researchers and other volunteers new skills in Community Reporting and working with lived experience stories. We recently caught up with Gaddum to find out how the Community Reporting had been going 6 months on…
When they first got in touch, Gaddum already recognised that stories were key to understanding both the impact of their work and the needs of the people they support. They were already collecting stories in different ways, but using People’s Voice Media’s Community Reporting methodology gave them a framework for collecting and analysing lived experience stories and upskilled their organisation. The people taking part in the project were a mix of paid peer researchers and volunteers from the co-production side of Gaddum. Everyone had lived experience of being a carer or mental health challenges.
The training supported two different aspects of Gaddum’s work. One, funded from the Accelerated Reform Fund, was to help Gaddum evaluate the impact of the Shared Lives and Hospital Discharge schemes. The other was to upskill people working on the co-production arm of Gaddum. This holistic approach enabled Gaddum to access the training and they now have a small pool of Community Reporters who can work on different projects as they emerge. At People’s Voice Media, we like to talk about “feeding two birds with one seed” and this project definitely achieved that!
We delivered the training online via Zoom. This helped bring the project into budget and also made it accessible to people with caring responsibilities and other disabilities who might not be able to travel to an in-person session. Through our Zoom room we managed to have some very in-depth discussions and I was particularly struck by how thoughtful and considerate the group were around the ethical issues of Community Reporting, something that we cover in our Safe and Responsible Practice element of our training.
“I thought people that were attending were getting a lot out of it, because they were asking a lot of questions, they seem really actively involved.” Project Manager for ARF, Gaddum
As homework, one Community Reporter collected a story about a person’s journey to autism diagnosis. We used this story to practice our story curation skills and had a great discussion about it, identifying key themes like the importance of support, the importance of education, the intersection between neurodivergence and mental health, and the usefulness of diagnosis as a way to understand the self and the past.
“It’s very rarely done in this way, it… nobody else does it in this way. I’m sure there are other Community Reporters in Manchester, but not in the way that we’ve done it, combined into our things around system change.” Coproduction and Engagement Service Manager, Gaddum
After completing the evidence-gathering for the ARF project, Gaddum are now looking at places to employ their Community Reporters and their skills in other areas of the organisation, such as their recent Manchester Living Well project. Although attendance and retention issues meant that fewer people completed the training than anticipated, Gaddum are still glad to have a small pool of people with these new skills, who are now going on to get more involved with other opportunities within the organisation.
“We always want to upskill and build the confidence of people, and that was just a brilliant way to do it.” Lived Experience Worker, Gaddum
If your organisation would like to use Community Reporting, a rigorous and responsible methodological framework for peer-to-peer lived experience storytelling, we can put together a bespoke training package to meet your needs and budget. Please get in touch with us at enquiries@peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk to have a chat.
⚠ Content note: This blog talks openly about suicide and bereavement by suicide. Please take care of yourself as you read.
We’re really excited to announce Building the Space, a powerful new campaign led by one of our incredible Community Reporters. In this blog, Isaac Samuels, Community Reporter and Head of Partnerships and Practice here at People’s Voice Media, tells us about how Building the Space will make sure that racialised voices are heard in suicide prevention.
I’m building something. And I need you to know why.
I’ve been sitting with this for a long time. Not because I didn’t know what to say, but because I know exactly what it costs to say it.
I’ve experienced suicidality. I’ve survived suicide attempts. I’ve lost people I love to suicide. And for years, I’ve watched systems try to address suicide prevention in ways that left people like me, and communities like mine, out of the frame entirely.
These are well-meaning, resourced, often genuinely caring systems. It wasn’t because they didn’t care. It was because they didn’t ask. And when you don’t ask, you miss things. Huge, life-altering things.
Race matters in suicide prevention. Identity matters. Stigma, culture, trauma, trust – all of it matters. But racialised communities have been missing from the strategies, the decision-making spaces and the conversations about what good support actually looks like.
That’s not an oversight. That’s a pattern. And patterns can be changed.
Someone said to me recently:
“If they don’t see us, how can they support us?”
It stopped me in my tracks. Because it’s so simple. And so true.
So I’m doing something about it. I’m launching Building the Space – a self-led campaign focused on amplifying racialised voices in suicide prevention. Not as a grand gesture, or a campaign full of polished messaging and distant statistics. But as something rooted in real people, real stories, and real community.
Using the Community Reporter method of lived experience storytelling, the campaign will create space for people to share their experiences safely, honestly, and on their own terms. Those stories won’t just sit on a page. They’ll become learning and evidence. We will build a well of community-led data that organisations, researchers, charities, and government can use to build approaches that properly meet the needs of racialised communities.
Over the next year, I want this to be a place where people can share, shape, influence, and lead. Not just contribute. Lead.
Because here’s the thing I keep coming back to:
Prevention built without us, fails us.
That isn’t an accusation. It’s a fact. And it’s also an invitation. An invitation to do this differently. To close the gap between what systems say they want to do, and what the people most affected really need.
The people closest to the pain must also be closest to the power.
I’ve spent my career believing that. Living it. And now, with everything this work carries for me personally, I’m putting it into practice in the most honest way I know how.
If this speaks to you – whether you have lived experience, work in the sector, or simply believe things should be different – I’d love you to follow along, share it, or just sit with it for a while.
And if you are a racialised person with a story to tell about suicide – I promise to hold the space for you to tell it, and work alongside you to make sure it gets heard. Let me know that you are interested in telling your story – in whatever way works best for you – by filling in this short online form.
If you have been affected by suicide, suicidal thoughts, self-harm or are feeling distressed, please seek support. Seeking help is a sign of strength and you are not alone. If you ever need mental health support, here are some helpful resources:
Future Changemakers is a three-year project, funded by BBC Children in Need, where People’s Voice Media are working with youth organisations across the country to build a Young Community Reporters Network. Each youth organisation is receiving training in the Community Reporter method, giving young people the skills and knowledge to get their voices and their lived experience stories heard to create change. We will also be working with youth leaders to undertake “train-the-trainer” work, so that they can embed youth voice within their groups for the future. Here, facilitator and project manager Lauren Wallace-Thompson gives us an update on the first youth group to take part in the programme:
I had the pleasure of working with the wonderful Army of Kindness in Rochdale, training some of the young people in Community Reporting methods to support their changemaking work. They are no strangers to social action, running weekly soup kitchens and supporting people in their community on a regular basis. A brilliant example of how people can come together in positive action!
I visited the group for evening creative workshop sessions where we looked at why stories are so important in our lives, and explored telling our own stories and what was important to us through Lego, collage, poetry and models. The young people produced sculptures dealing with bereavement, justice, and belonging; poetry about Dua Lipa and what it is to be misunderstood by your parents; and some incredible drawings by talented young artists telling memories of family trips to Umrah, and their hopes for their future. Some of the young people also shared their lived experiences of racism and prejudice, and this became a key focus for the group’s work and their social actions.
One of the things I enjoy most about my job is how I learn new things all the time from the people taking part in our projects. Every session is like a lesson from ten different teachers, all with their own specialist subjects. But the young people in Army of Kindness especially made an impact on me with their really insightful reflections on the influence of social media in their lives and the ways in which personal connections and understanding can bring people together. They also gave me an education in great snacking – grating cheese into a Pot Noodle was a culinary revelation – and I had, shockingly, never tried Irn Bru before (“Asian beer”, according to the group’s leader).
The group put the Community Reporting skills they had learnt into action when they held a community funday in the October half-term holidays, gathering video and audio stories from attendees at the funday to find out what they thought about the event. The Young Community Reporters interviewed a great range of people to get their experiences of the day, including a clown, a local councillor, and a 9-year-old entrepreneur!
The young people then learnt how to analyse the findings of our Community Reporting in a “sense-making” session. Here are the trends they identified:
The stories provided a sense of how people had enjoyed the event, but also praise for the wider work that Army of Kindness does locally.
People would like to see more events like this in the future.
Attendees especially enjoyed the food and community spirit.
People appreciated the opportunity to give towards a good cause
The diversity of attendees was a positive and the event gave people a chance to learn about each others’ cultures.
Reflecting on the stories as a whole, the group saw how it was a way to get detailed, experiential feedback to evaluate their event, but also noted how Community Reporting could be a tool to gather information to support their group and their work going forwards, such as comments about the positive differences that Army of Kindness have made to the local community, which might support their fundraising, grant applications and profile-raising.
Here are some perspectives from the young people taking part in the Future Changemakers project:
“I learned about dialogue interviews, different types of questions, and how to be more professional in interviews.”
“I really enjoyed getting to know and hear about the perspectives of other people.”
“The session was awesome, I really enjoyed it, especially the practical interviewing part.”
“I learnt that everyone has their own stories.”
“Everyone is human we need to stay in peace.”
“I learned new information about life in Rochdale for religious women.”
People’s Voice Media will return to Rochdale this spring/summer to train youth leaders and older young people in a “train the Trainer” session, so that they can deliver Community Reporter training to more young people and keep the skills of Community Reporting and extend their use within Army of Kindness.
We are still in the first year of the project. Our second group are Police Cadets in the West Midlands – stay tuned for updates on how they got on.
If you are running a youth group or other youth project and would be interested in learning a tool to increase youth voice and participation, and build communication and media skills among the young people you support, there are still some spaces left to join the project in Year 2 and 3. Please email lauren@peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk for more information.
The Department for Work and Pensions is reviewing Personal Independence Payment (PIP) – a benefit that shapes the daily lives of millions of disabled people across the UK. Decisions made in this review will affect how people can pay their bills, access support, move around their communities, and live with dignity. That is why we are bringing people together for a roundtable discussion, and why the voices in the room matter so much. People’s Voice Media’s Head of Partnerships and Practice, Isaac Samuels, tells us why it’s vital that we create this space.
Lived Experience Roundtable on PIP
What is it?
On 5th May 2026 at 6pm, People’s Voice Media are hosting a 90-minute online roundtable on PIP, as a space for people to share their stories, insights, and reflections. This will help shape a response to the current Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Review led by the Department for Work and Pensions.
This session is part of the wider national Call for Evidence, and it’s really important that the voices of people who live with the realities of PIP are centred, heard, and valued.
About the space
At People’s Voice Media, storytelling is at the heart of how we create change. This space will be grounded in that, offering a supportive environment to share real experiences of PIP, including:
What’s working and what isn’t
Experiences of applying, assessments, and decisions
Where the system feels unfair or inconsistent
How experiences differ across communities and intersecting identities
What a more human, fair, and dignified system could look like
Why We’re Holding This Space
Reviews of this scale are too often shaped by data points, policy papers, and assumptions about what disabled people need – rather than real experiences of navigating the system. We wanted to create a space where that balance is corrected. We want people who have actually applied for PIP, been assessed for PIP, appealed decisions, waited anxiously for letters, and built their lives around this support to be able to speak honestly and be heard.
The roundtable is a focused conversation around two simple but powerful questions: What is working well? What is not working so well? From small practical improvements to bigger structural concerns, every contribution helps build a clearer, more truthful picture of how PIP is functioning today.
The insights, stories, and recommendations that come out of the discussion will be carefully captured and turned into a collective lived experience response to the government’s PIP review. We will also share key themes back with participants, partner organisations, and decision-makers who can act on them.
What PIP Enables Me to Do
I want to speak honestly for a moment, because this isn’t just a policy conversation for me – it’s my life. As a disabled person living with mental health conditions, PIP is not a luxury or an extra. It is one of the quiet, essential things that makes a decent life possible. Without it, the gap between simply surviving and actually living becomes very wide.
On a practical level, PIP helps me cover the real costs of being disabled – costs that people outside this experience often don’t see. It helps me pay for taxis on days when public transport is too overwhelming, or when leaving the house at all takes everything I’ve got. It helps me keep my home warm when my body and mind need stability. It helps me buy the food that supports my medication and my energy levels. It helps me pay for the little things – noise-cancelling headphones, a weighted blanket, the right kind of lighting – that make the difference between a manageable day and a day lost to sensory overload or a mental health dip.
But the impact goes far beyond receipts and bills. PIP gives me the breathing room to look after my mental health. It means I can attend my therapy appointments without having to choose between them and my electricity bill. It means I can say no to situations that would push me into crisis, because I am not financially forced to say yes. It means I can rest when I need to rest, instead of pushing my body and mind past the point of collapse and ending up worse off.
PIP also enables me to contribute. That part matters to me. Because I have this support, I can do the work I do: advocacy, storytelling, showing up for my community. I can hold down relationships. I can be a good friend, a present family member, a reliable colleague on the days I’m well. People often frame disability benefits as something that holds people back. For me, the truth is the opposite: PIP is what makes participation possible. It is the scaffolding that lets me show up in the world.
Living with a mental health condition alongside a disability means my needs shift. Some weeks I manage well. Other weeks, everything is harder. PIP gives me the stability to weather those shifts without falling off a cliff. It gives me dignity on my hardest days and independence on my best days. It means I don’t have to justify my existence every time my symptoms flare up.
This is the reality I want the review to understand. PIP isn’t just a payment – it is access. It is safety. It is the difference between being pushed to the edges of society and being able to take my place within it. When PIP works, it works quietly in the background, enabling people like me to build a better life. When it doesn’t, the consequences are serious – not just financially, but physically, emotionally, and psychologically.
That is why my voice, and the voices of others like me, need to be in this review.
Why Lived Experience Voices Are So Important
Lived experience is expertise. No one understands the impact of a policy better than the people who live with its consequences every day. When disabled people are at the centre of conversations about disability benefits, policy becomes sharper, fairer, and more effective. Decisions made without that expertise tend to miss the mark, creating systems that are harder to navigate, more stressful to engage with, and less responsive to real need.
Centering lived experience is also a matter of principle. “Nothing about us without us” should be the minimum standard. If the government is serious about improving PIP, then the people who rely on it must be genuinely heard, not just consulted as an afterthought.
What to Expect
The space will be rooted in lived experience storytelling, and offer different ways to contribute. Your insights will directly inform a collective lived experience response to the review.
Date: Tuesday 5 May
Time: 6:00pm – 7:30pm
Location: Online (joining link will be sent once you confirm your place)
How to join: Please email isaac@peoplesvoicemedia.co.uk with any questions, or to confirm you’d like to attend, and we’ll send over the joining link and any final details.
If you have any access needs or would prefer to contribute in a different way, please just let us know. We’ll make sure the space works for you.
We are grateful to everyone who is showing up to share their story. Your voice will shape what we take to government – and that is exactly how it should be.
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