Window to our world – Our Photovoice research project

We asked families we support to capture, and share, their personal moments in our Window to our world project.

The project aims to capture what really matters, day-to-day, to families. It also highlights the barriers or challenges they face, as they go about their lives together.

Jigit received a grant for her son, Daniel, 15, who is autistic. They provided a powerful image showing him performing a flip from a special athletic sport, parkour.

Jigit, said: “Daniel loves trampolining, like many other children with autism, as you get sensory feedback from bouncing and jumping. You need safe equipment for this. Like many families raising children with additional needs, we are a one income household. This is not something we could have afforded without support.

“Our grant has helped him safely practise and excel at parkour. It’s built his self confidence. Children stop and ask him ‘how did you learn that?’. Kids from the neighbourhood come to our garden to practice with him. Now, he’s got friends, some autistic, some not, who have taken it up too. With a child like Daniel, if he didn’t have parkour, he might not leave his room very much. So that’s what this kind of support can do.”

Dr Abigail Dunn, Head of Policy, Research and Evaluation at Family Fund, said: “Every single family we have helped has their own unique story of how our grants have enabled them to spend quality time together. Our Window to our world report compiles 18 of these special stories and personal photos, at an important moment in our history where support is needed now, more than ever.”

A photovoice project

At Family Fund, all of our work starts from the position that families are the experts in their own lives. Our role is to listen, so we can ensure that family voice underpin everything we do. We do this by offering families a space and platform to share their stories and what is important to them.

For this project, we used a participative research technique called photovoice. With a photovoice project, participants share their experiences using photos of their choosing. They then take part in an interview to share the stories behind the pictures.

Live webinar on Thursday 18 January

We are hosting a live webinar on Thursday 18 January, at 1pm, to present the key results from this project. Our researchers will explore the key themes families shared with us. These include the benefits of family breaks and play and leisure equipment, the challenges that the families face and suggestions on what could be changed to make days out more inclusive.

The webinar will also outline the actions that need to be taken to improve the experience of families raising a disabled or seriously ill child or young person.