Us In A Bus

We are a small enthusiastic team based in Surrey supporting people with profound and multiple learning disabilities and complex needs. Most have no words and are often thought of as unable to communicate with the outside world, which offers a huge challenge in caring for them. Without specialist assistance, the people we support may remain locked inside their own world; unable to interact with others, communicate their needs, or share a simple communication with another person, interactions that most of us take for granted. Our vision is of a society where people with profound learning disabilities, complex needs and sensory processing differences have the opportunities to communicate and connect, that others take for granted. We aim to do this by developing and sharing our techniques with those who care for, or support, the people we visit. We work in partnership with others to identify needs and then create solutions. We also hope to encourage and influence others to consider the emotional well-being and communication needs of those with profound learning disabilities, complex needs and sensory processing differences.

Our history begins in 1990 when Us in a Bus was set up by Scope to provide leisure and communication opportunities for adults with profound learning disabilities in four long-stay hospitals in Surrey. Our co-founders Marianne Hecker and Janet Gurney began by visiting hospital wards housing around 40 people each who would share an hour-long interactive session once a week. Our session might have been the only opportunity for any sort of social interaction.

During the 20th Century, large numbers of people with learning disabilities were moved into long-stay hospitals in Surrey from all over the country. This movement has increased the proportion of people with a learning disability in the general population of the county and as a rough estimate, Surrey has approximately 34% more adults requiring supported care than the UK average.

For three years, Scope managed the Us in a Bus project and then in 1993, Us in a Bus became a Registered Charity in its own right. With the advent of care in the community, those we supported moved to care homes so we followed them and moved our work from hospitals to their new homes. This meant fewer people per session and allowed for a more focused approach. We now visit approximately 122 people each week, including a few of those we first met in 1990.