Disability Equals Ability Awarded £5250 of National Lottery Funding to Support Adults with Disabilities.

Disability Equals Ability (DEA) has been awarded £5,250 in National Lottery funding to support its flagship initiative, “Health Horizons for Adults with disabilities” a new 3–6 month community-led project supporting chronically disabled adults across Salisbury, Devizes, and Trowbridge from 1st April 2026.

Disability Equals Ability has been running since 2021 and is staffed by 12 dedicated volunteers. Founded by CEO Juliana Ameh, the organisation emerged from her own lived experience of disability and her frontline work as a social worker, where she witnessed the profound gaps in support facing individuals, families, and children with disabilities.

The Health Horizons project will deliver accessible workshops, peer-led support groups, and information-sharing activities that empower participants to understand and access the health and wellbeing options available to them. Activities will take place both online and in fully accessible community venues, ensuring that as many chronically disabled adults as possible can take part.

Participants will also co-create a practical resource pack and a new “Health Horizons” online hub, which will continue to offer guidance and community connection well beyond the lifetime of the project.

The new funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes, will enable DEA to expand its weekly timetable meaning more adults with disabilities can regularly attend the workshops, peer-led groups, and information sessions they identified as essential.

This expanded schedule will provide ongoing, reliable opportunities for participants to build confidence, strengthen social networks, and navigate health and wellbeing resources with greater ease.

As the first step, DEA will launch focus groups to help shape and drive the realisation of the project.

Residents, carers, and families of adults with disabilities are invited to join these focus groups. To register your interest, click here: DEA Wellbeing Project.

 Juliana Ameh, CEO and Founder of Disability Equals Ability, says:

“We’re delighted that The National Lottery Community Fund has recognised our work in this way. Thanks to National Lottery players, we can now move forward with our plans to broaden access to clear, accessible health and wellbeing information for disabled adults. This project is vital because it helps people build confidence, connect with others facing similar challenges, and access the support they deserve.”

 Trustees  at Disability Equals Ability, adds:

“This funding will ensure that disabled adults in Salisbury, Devizes, and Trowbridge have a consistent, supportive space to learn about their health options and shape the resources that work best for them. It’s about empowering people through knowledge, community, and choice.”

The National Lottery Community Fund recently launched its strategy, ‘It starts with community’, which will underpin its efforts to distribute at least £4 billion of National Lottery funding by 2030. 

As part of this, the funder has four key missions, which are to support communities to come together, be environmentally sustainable, help children and young people thrive and enable people to live healthier lives.

National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. Thanks to them, last year (2023/24) The National Lottery Community Fund awarded over half a billion pounds (£686.3 million) of life-changing funding to communities across the UK, supporting over 13,700  projects to turn their great ideas into reality.

To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk