The South Yorkshire Centre for Inclusive Living (SYCIL) was established in 1995 and is a registered charity and established as a company limited by guarantee. South Yorkshire Equality Training and Consultancy is a separate registered company and is the trading arm of SYCIL. We are also in the process of developing a new company Real Life Choices.

SYCIL is an organsiation of Disabled people firmly rooted in the Disability Movement. We work to the Social Model of Disability which defines disability in terms of negative attitudes and discrimination caused by a society which fails to meet the needs of people with impairments. A major priority is that the work and development of SYCIL has always been and will continue to be informed by Disabled people.

By ‘Disabled People’ we refer to people with a physical, sensory, intellectual, psychological, emotional, or any other hidden impairment.  The services of SYCIL are open to anyone who defines themselves as a Disabled person so this could include cancer survivors and those living with HIV/AIDS.  

Strategic Aims

• To enable Disabled people to explore opportunities which will lead to independence, choice and control over their lives
• To widen understanding of the needs of Disabled people
• To ensure that SYCIL has the capacity to achieve its mission and objectives

Ethos

SYCIL has a well-developed ethos firmly grounded in the Social Model of Disability. SYCIL's Models of Disability Page. In practice this means that whenever Disabled people come to SYCIL for support they are not expected or obliged to fit pre-conceived ideas about what they need, or to accept pre-existing solutions. Recognising that Disabled people need more than policy statements and good will to change their lives SYCIL sets out to define and pursue the aims of Disabled people.

We support Disabled people to think about developing their lives within the same range of possibilities and opportunities as everyone else, working together to identify and define the supports needed to realise Disabled people's aims and ambitions. The most important thing is to help people to realise that independence is not a matter of doing everything for yourself but of having choice and control over your life and a say in what happens to you. This has been achieved through the development of a resource that provides a range of integrated, alternative services with clear access for Disabled people. Core services include the Independent Living Unit, Falls support service, IT Training and Support, Maintaining Independence Service, Advocacy, Health Improvement, Training and Education and Consultancy. From time to time SYCIL delivers projects to compliment the core activity of the organisation for example 'Choosing Independence' a Lottery funded project that supports people to understand personal budgets.

We have a membership comprising ‘full members’ (Disabled people) and ‘associate members’ and operate a committee structure fully accountable to our membership.

Principles

The following principles have been agreed by local Disabled people and are reviewed annually.

• SYCIL is committed to a social model of disability which underpins and drives all activities
• SYCIL works in a holistic way
• SYCIL is committed to the principles of inclusion, participation and non-discriminatio
• SYCIL values the unique vision which Disabled people bring to the innovation, development and delivery of its services
• SYCIL is committed to the delivery of quality services