Winner of the 2024 National Diversity Award for Community Organisation for Disability
Happy Smiles Training is an award-winning social enterprise, led by disabled people. With over 90% of its workforce comprising disabled people, they aim to challenge the stigma around disability and lead positive social change. Happy Smiles delivers inclusive training to schools, community groups, businesses and more, reaching thousands of people each year. Their work has received international recognition and they are seen as one of the leading disabled people’s organisations in the UK. See their work in action at www.happysmilestraining.co.uk
Alex Winstanley, co-founder of Happy Smiles Training, gives us an insight into their work and secrets to their success.
How our work affects our community
Having delivered training to over 20,000 people, with 100% of our audiences recommending our training, we know that our work is impacting communities. This is highlighted in the responses from training attendees including these comments:
“A highlight of my teaching career.”
“Impactful.. Really insightful lived experience.. Well informed.. Recommend to every organisation.. Great insight, very positive experience.”
“Amazing Team. Very educational and an eye opener.”
“Recommend to every organisation big or small!”
Equally important is the parallel impact stream created by our training delivery which ensures that our trainers are not only using their lived experiences to create inclusive communities but also receiving positive impact themselves. This is highlighted by members of our team who have said:
“I used to have multiple daily seizures but since working with Happy Smiles have had almost none, because I have something meaningful to do that I believe in.”
“The past 18 months with Happy Smiles have been the best time of my life."
“I used to see my disability as the worst part of my life and now it is the best.”
“Delivering training through Happy Smiles lets me be me.”
Why we started on this journey
After a lifetime of witnessing the undervaluing and stigmatising of disabled people, my friend Haydn Smith and I took it upon ourselves to try to make a change. Seeing the lack of local opportunities for disabled people to showcase what they’re truly capable of, we started to deliver workshops to schools, businesses and community organisations, led by local disabled people. Prior to this, Haydn had just spent nearly a year in hospital, in which time hundreds of people sent him photos of their ‘Happy Smiles’ to keep his spirits up. So, when I left my teaching job in 2019 to set up our organisation, there was only one name for it! Happy Smiles Training was born.
Activities which made most impact
Everything we do is led by disabled people, from our training delivery to our weekly peer support of all of our team members. This is creating a significant parallel impact stream that has allowed us to create long-term employment and volunteering opportunities for over 40 disabled people. We know that without our work most, if not all, of our team would have very few accessible and inclusive employment opportunities. We live in a world that is, in general, still playing catch up to witnessing the value that disabled people bring to communities and workplaces. We believe that until all organisations celebrate what disabled people bring to the table and make sure they are in decision-making positions, opportunities provided by organisations like ours will still be extremely rare.
People who inspire me
It’s hard to put the inspiration down to one particular person: it’s more a combination of many local disabled people, their families and disabled leaders fighting for change who continue to inspire what we do.
If I knew then what I know now….
I wish we could have started our work even sooner!
My one piece of advice to others wanting to help their community
Don’t worry about the small details, just get started. Today.
What it means to win this Award
There will always be some days when you feel like giving in: when the barriers and challenges seem too much. This award provides the constant reminder that our work is valued and should be celebrated, as well as highlighting the great work led by many disabled people on a daily basis.
My message for change to local and national government
Please listen to people with lived experience of the barriers we are striving to address, then act on their advice. That is the only way change will truly be achieved.
What Lies Ahead
We have achieved our goal of becoming a nationally recognised training provider within our first five years of existence, starting from absolutely nothing. We now want to expand our UK team and build a team of disabled trainers globally. We want to have an influence over national policies and decision-making surrounding disability inclusion and disabled people, to ensure we can keep creating change for organisations and communities across the world.
What this award means to us
This award has already provided a platform for more people and communities to see what we do and witness the impact of our work. We’re able to say that, out of 90,000 nominations, our work was valued highly enough to be a national award winner. Not only that, the National Diversity Awards are aligned so closely to our values, we couldn’t be prouder. We hope that this recognition will continue to build enough awareness for leading organisations to invest in our training, thus supporting the inclusivity of their business and the communities they reach. It will also have the effect of closing the disability employment gap by directly supporting disabled people into long-term employment.
Highlight of the National Diversity Awards ceremony
We had an incredible evening, spending time with disabled and diversity leaders like Ruth Madely and Paul Sesay. Just to be in that room was an absolute privilege; to win the award was beyond an honour. We are still taking it in!