“My world would be dark without them”: Evaluating The Ark Trust’s Social Activities for People with Learning Disabilities and Autism

As part of Royal Holloway’s Civic University internal funding, working with The Ark Trust, an award-winning charity based in Bracknell Forest in Berkshire to evaluate a specific set of social activities provided by The Ark Trust which aim to increase social inclusion and reduce social isolation and loneliness for people with learning disabilities and/or autism. The project employed an inclusive research methodology, with involvement from Experts by Experience throughout the project, to develop a mixed methods approach using both accessible survey and qualitative interviews. As part of the project, two short films were produced to capture people’s experiences of the project and the Ark’s social activities: (1) What people think about the Ark social activities: https://youtu.be/qiUTJoXp2gs and (2) About the research project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQrYLpdBtvc. Full research report and Easy Read report also developed and available from Kate Theodore on request.