The following article will explain and illustrate the nuts and bolts of what the SCORE Project is and what it has helped those involved to achieve over the last three years, however the real success has been in the areas of personal development that are hardest to truly extract and convey to anyone who does not know the individuals and personalities involved. The SCORE Project, (Sporting Chances, Opportunities, Recreation and Employment), supports individuals with Significant Learning Disabilities to access sports, leisure, the arts and related employment opportunities in the city of Hereford in the United Kingdom. We have a core user group, but over a twelve- month period the number of individuals we will work with in some capacity runs into hundreds, and will involve people of all ages. All that the project is involved with occurs within the local community; all of the activities take place in the same facilities that everyone else uses; and all have the same aims: the building of self-belief, self-confidence, independence, new skills, widened social horizons, the introduction of managed risk and the general raising of expectation, of both those participating and of all involved in their lives and in the community at large. The key to the success of the project is Partnership - it may be a buzzword at present, but without the partnerships involved we would not be able to offer the level of experience and opportunity that we do. This means partnership between participants and their peers, participants and staff (the demarcation of that distinction), between families and carers, other voluntary and statutory sector organisations, local clubs, teams, facilities, training agencies, whoever can open a door or build a bridge for those involved. By definition Partnership is a two way process and this is vital to how the project succeeds, only by focusing on ability, not disability and looking at what those on the project can contribute to our partners or to the community at large, can we truly move away from traditional views and myths of what it means to have a Significant Learning Disability in 2004. Through involvement in sport, leisure and the arts, all areas of great interest and motivation to those on the project, we receive constant feedback telling us how much this stimulates growth in self-confidence, in team-skills, in ability to communicate and to express opinions, and this has permeated into all aspects of the lives of those involved. We have devoted a lot of time to building relationships and trust on the project that has enabled individuals to be able to develop the projects direction according to what they want and need. This can only be achieved by reacting to and exploring the ideas, opinions and feedback those on the project give, resources and practicalities have an impact and not all ideas can reach fruition, but by acting on the desires and passions of those involved, people feel involved and empowered in their own lives. I should not need to be highlighting this as an achievement, it should go without saying, but in reality, and often with the best of intentions, history dictates that those involved in the field of Learning Disability offer too much guided direction according to preset, low expectation and a wish to protect, and this limits the possibility of personal growth and independence. The project has supported involvement in every type of sport imaginable, team sports, archery, through to indoor bowls, the list is endless, and the health benefits that people have enjoyed as a result will have real long-term benefits. Involvement in sport is not just about what happens on the pitch or on the court, the spin off benefits of improved communication, sense of team, peer support, less reliance on traditional staffing structures, widened social horizons, development of the ability to cope with both success and failure, all have real relevance in other aspects of life, preparation for employment being a particularly good example. Another area of necessity we have addressed is transport training. We have attempted to move away from a reliance on limiting organised taxi services to get people to training, using instead local transport systems and transport sharing, this may be more difficult short-term, but to create long-term sustainable opportunity and freedom of choice, it is by far the best option to create real independence. The next step for the Project is a move towards social enterprise and an outlet for those involved to further develop the skills they have acquired and to be able to use them in areas of interest within the supported employment field. To date the project has supported a number of individuals to make the move into part-time employment and many others into voluntary work and to see what joy and immense self-confidence that has engendered has been extremely rewarding for all involved. The first pay packet, the sense of purpose, the feeling of importance and of contributing, the building of new friendships and relationships have all illustrated the benefit of employment for those individuals ready and willing to take those steps. The way everyone shouts good morning each Wednesday as the individuals do their newspaper deliveries and the way that a parent contacted us to say that when her son returned home with his first ever pay packet, he signed to her that he would pay when they went out for Sunday lunch that week - what more can I say! The project has supported a large number of training courses and opportunities over the last three years and we passionately believe that this should be offered in actual context to what people are looking to do, the classroom has its place, but we aim to offer training that is specifically related to actual opportunities, not broad conceptual overviews and we feel this approach has been very successful and we have been fortunate to work with like minded local training providers. We know we have not made any startling new discovery; we have just listened, reacted, left our preconceptions at the door and supported individuals to unleash and build upon the abilities they naturally have. Bob Rhodes, TACT, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom This article has been presented at the conference "10 Years Studies of Defectology",which took place in the Republic of Macedonia, Ohrid, September 17-20, 2003. It is posted on the website with the agreement of Assistant Professor Vladimir Trajkovski, M.D., Ph.D., editor in chief of the book of abstracts "10 years studies of defectology in Macedonia".

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