Learning Disability Week: Achieving dreams through personalised financial support
This Learning Disability Week, we are hearing from Abi* and how Dosh has supported her to use her money to do the things she has always wanted to do.
This week, 16 to 22 June, is Learning Disability Week! The theme this year is ‘Do You See Me’, which is about people with a learning disability being seen, heard and valued in society.
A huge part of this is people with a learning disability having control and independence over their money. For many of us, we use a bank account and money to pay for things without a second thought. However, people with a learning disability face additional barriers when accessing their money. This can be due to lack of accessible information, assumptions surrounding mental capacity or difficulty navigating the benefits system.
At Dosh, we support people with a learning disability use their money in the way they want and for the things they enjoy. We do this through our financial advocacy and appointeeship service. Each Financial Advocate supports people with benefits, budgeting, banking, and much more.
Abi’s* Story
Dosh has supported Abi for a while, and Abi calls her advocate her “money man.” Through Dosh’s support, she has been able to use her money to reach her goals.
In December 2024, she was able to book two tickets to see her favourite football team, Arsenal, play in the Women’s Super League! Abi’s support team helped her book the tickets, and her Dosh ‘money man’ ensured she had enough money to purchase them.
Abi got the train to the stadium and met lots of Arsenal fans on her journey. She was also able to buy herself a scarf and drinks bottle from the merchandise store. To top the day off, Arsenal Women’s won the match 4-0!
She has really enjoyed the day out and would love to go again, it was amazing!
Abi’s adventures didn’t stop there! She also was able to visit the Coronation Street TV studios. Abi asked if her support staff could contact her ‘money man’ to make sure it would be okay for her to go – of course it was!
Abi and her support team got to work and found a coach trip for her to go on which included an overnight hotel and dinner. The process was straightforward and before you knew it, Abi was on her trip to the cobbles.
Abi described the trip as:
The time of my life.
Abi’s support staff commented how supportive and approachable Dosh are to Abi. They feel like they can contact Dosh with any queries to ensure Abi achieves her dreams. Without the support from Dosh to help manage her finances, these trips could not be possible. Abi sends a huge thank you to her ‘money man’!
Everyone at Dosh are so pleased for Abi, and we are so proud of her Dosh support team who could help make these amazing moments happen. This demonstrates how vital it is that people with a learning disability and their support circles receive the right support when it comes to finances.
People with a learning disability deserve to use their money, their way. Just like everyone else.
To learn more about our support or make a referral, please get in touch with us through the contact form at the bottom of this page.
*Name has been changed for privacy reasons
Kelsey Muxlow-Angeloni June 16th, 2025
Posted In: Learning Disability Week, News and Blogs, Stories
Tags: learning disability week
What does money mean to people with a learning disability?
Having access to money when you need it, enables us to live well at home, as well as get out and do the things we enjoy. However, people with a learning disability may need support with some aspects of their money, and so their experience of money and what it means to them may be different to others.
This is why in 2024, along with Thera Trust and the University of Bristol, we launched our Financial Wellbeing Project to find out how people with a learning disability feel about their money and what support they have with their finances.
Sam Holman and Gerard Starling were appointed as Co-Researchers of the project, with Sam having a lived experience of a learning disability. Gerard has a daughter with a learning disability and project manager experience at Thera. On his feelings on the project, Sam told us:
I care about the people I’m meeting and want them to have the best support. This is how Gerard and I have noticed that some the people we support don’t get a choice in terms of spending money. For example, saving up money to go on holiday. This is why this research is important.
Sam and Gerard held two workshops and individual interviews to understand people’s experiences. In total, they spoke to 16 individuals with a learning disability with interviews being up to an hour and a half long.
They asked people about 4 things:
- How they manage their money.
- Spending and saving.
- Support with benefits.
- How they generally feel about their finances.
Many people felt they had freedom over what they could spend but a common theme was the help they had from their support staff or family members. This meant that they didn’t feel as worried about managing their money or the impact of challenges like the cost-of-living crisis.
One person shared his experience of buying a pet gecko! His support team helped him visit the shop and learn how to look after a gecko, including ongoing costs. A family member then helped check affordability and arranged to get him the funds from the account they manage on his behalf.
The above findings and story demonstrate how important having the right support with finances is for people with a learning disability, whether that’s through existing support circles or an organisation like Dosh. However, most people didn’t talk about learning new skills around money and gaining more independence in future.
As a solution to this, Sam and Gerald felt that in the future it would be good to promote independence and control over money within people’s person-centred plans. For example, using person-centred active support approaches to gradually build people’s skills and options around money. This would help people to make their own decisions about what they do with their money, if they would like to.
From these reflections, we are looking at ways we can enable support teams and others to do this, in partnership with support providers and other organisations such as Thera and University of Bristol. We are always looking to improve and innovate our support for people with a learning disability and the project’s findings have been incredibly helpful.
If you want to read more about Sam and Gerald’s findings, you can view the report here. You can also watch back a webinar Sam held in April 2025 where he discussed his findings in more detail!
If you or someone you know with a learning disability would like support to have more financial independence, please get in touch with us using the contact form at the bottom of this page.
Together, we can support you to use your money, your way.
Kelsey Muxlow-Angeloni May 14th, 2025
Posted In: News and Blogs, Sam, Thought pieces
