2, Kevin meets Scott Whitney to discuss the All 4 Inclusion Awards

In this conversation Kevin Daws asks founder Scott Whitney to share his personal journey of becoming disabled and how it led to the creation of All 4 Inclusion, an initiative aimed at supporting individuals with disabilities. 

He discusses the unique aspects of the All 4 Inclusion Awards, emphasizing their focus on recognising everyday individuals rather than just high-profile figures. The conversation also covers the various award categories, including the newly introduced Latifa Sanneh Award, which honours resilience and determination.

Scott highlights the positive impact these awards have on individuals and the community, as well as the importance of sponsorship and nominations for future growth.

The All 4 Inclusion Awards take place in Manchester on October 23rd, tickets can be purchased here

https://www.all4inclusion.org/event-details/all-4-inclusion-awards-2025

Nominations can be submitted here during March 2025

https://forms.office.com/e/7EAq4CA9ed

Transcript

Scott Whitney (00:02.168)
All right, good to go.

Excellent. Right Scott, today we want to talk about the All 4 Inclusion Awards. But for anyone who doesn't know you and doesn't know All 4 Inclusion, tell us a little bit about yourself and why did you set up All 4 Inclusion?

Yes, it's a bit strange on being a guest on the All 4 Inclusion pod instead of a host for a change. But I became disabled in 2020. It happened overnight, like a click of a fingers. One day I was disabled, the next day I wasn't disabled. No accident, no injury, anything like that. Things just started getting south. I had problems with...

my ability to walk, was having spasms, seizures, controlling some of my bodily functions, being able to swallow and yeah, just really, really kind of downhill real, real quick. And not long after that, I got put on furlough and then went into a deep dark place with my mental health. But when I came back out of furlough,

I started to share my story a little bit. You I wasn't better, but I thought if I was gonna start meeting people work wise, I might as well just have it in the open. You know, I don't want people to suddenly expect me to come running in an office, but seeing me come in in my wheelchair. So I thought if I just get out there, it's just telling everyone. That's what I did.

Scott Whitney (01:49.506)
And I then decided whilst it was potentially my last opportunity to do so, I would do a physical challenge. So I did the equivalent of six marathons using an arm exercise bike and three marathons using a propelling myself in a wheelchair during the month of January. and in that

period of fundraising and training, friend of mine, a good friend of mine said to me, you know, your mental health is going to really, really dip afterwards. I said, why is that? And he said, well, because, you know, you need to replace this void. You know, you're not going to be doing the training anymore. You're not going to be doing the fundraising. So what's, what's going to be there? So all 4 inclusion was always going to happen, but it got brought forward to coincide.

almost with the end of those marathons and I then pivoted a few times to get us to where we are now where we're running the groups and supporting people in the way we support them by building a community around people who are lonely. Our initial plan of attack was to go into businesses, provide training and support there but we found there's lots of people who do that already and they do.

you know, a lot of them do really good job. So whilst we can still do that, our niche is more to support the people that we feel may be forgotten or fall between the cracks and being able to just put on events and things to get people doing something, build a bit of a community.

that sounds really good. So let's move on to talk about the awards themselves. I mean there's lots of awards out there. What makes your All 4 Inclusion awards different? What makes them special? Why have them? What is it you're hoping to get through having the awards?

Scott Whitney (03:59.512)
So I started to look at some of the disability awards and the one that always springs to mind first up is Shaw Trust Disability Power 100. And there's a lot of people within those hundred people who I would say are, you know, everyday people.

but there's also some fantastic people who have won things because of a real achievement. And we spoke to Baroness Tani Gray Thompson previously, Shani Danda, you've got like Rose Ailing Ellis and the people that I could see that were really winning these awards were people that were in the spotlight.

for a particular reason. Now, some other charities do awards and I don't know about them quite as much, but they're quite often a little bit more aimed at a specific audience. So what I wanted to do was to create an awards that an everyday person could win. It's not about being in the top.

100 or anything like that. First of all, the nomination should give everyone a sense of achievement, that recognition, but the winner as well being someone that

That is, you know, an everyday person is really, really important. And then some awards, you know, you can win an award and that's it. You don't, you you're not given anything or you might be given a certificate or something like that. So we want to make sure that our winners feel like winners so they have a really heavy duty sort of.

Scott Whitney (06:12.75)
crystal trophy and then they get given a prize as well for winning. So they've got something that they can take away and treat themselves with. So it was really about getting that award right, making it something that you win and you think, yeah, that's worth winning. I'm not just saying, yeah, I've won something and...

two minutes later, all I've got is the fact that I've won. It's about making someone think, yeah, that was worth winning.

So in a sense you're people feel special and that makes it more memorable for them that a big occasion and people have something to walk away with and then be able to celebrate as well.

Yeah, yeah.

Scott Whitney (07:10.584)
Definitely, definitely. And I think, you know, it's bringing people together. you know, every year the awards will grow and grow and grow. And that will happen because some people will be nominated for it who might not know who all four inclusion are. And then they come in, they find out what we're doing and then they may join regularly or...

on the odd occasion to some of our groups. So the award is also way of introducing people to all for inclusion and all for inclusion to people. So it works both ways there.

Now that sounds good. Correct me if I'm wrong, you've got nine categories in the awards. I think eight of them are open for the public to nominate to and one is a separate category which I think you have a panel of judges to decide upon. Tell us a little bit about the awards, the different categories. Just gives the flavour.

I'll tell you about the eight so far. So the eight which people know about, you've got the original four, which is Inclusive Business, you've got Disability Ally, Visible Disability and Hidden Disability, Personality of the Year awards. So they were the original four and...

We then last year we added on Menopause champion, mental health champion, digital accessibility champion and unpaid carer of the year award. So we do a lot with Menopause, with webinars and trying to create different bits of awareness in and around there. So we felt that that was a good one to have. And we also felt

Scott Whitney (09:11.19)
it might be something that people don't recognize enough. And that's where, when it comes to, if someone doesn't feel recognized, we want to be the people that recognize them. So again, unpaid carer, same type of thing. Digital accessibility champion, same type of thing. And I'm sure there are loads of awards that recognize mental health champions, but you know, it's such a huge thing.

We want to be part of that as well. So that's, that's giving you the eight. So the ninth award is this year is just going to be decided by me being quite selfish with it. So it's, it's called, it's going to be called the Latifa Sanneh award. So it's almost like

a kind of Hall of Fame award and there will we will have a board which will have all of the inductees to the Hall of Fame there which will be called the Latifa Sanneh award. So Latifa passed away last year. At the end of last year she was five years old and she's a daughter of Njaay

Njaimeh Mboge who's a member of All 4 Inclusion and has been, you know, very loyal, very good member. Now, Latifa, she had multiple disabilities and lots and lots of challenges, but she was non-verbal.

But despite all of these challenges and difficulties, she was a happy child. She was a cheeky child. She showed great determination, great courage, great resilience. People were happy to be around her. She could probably wrap

Scott Whitney (11:37.25)
people around her finger very easily. And when I was sort of thinking about this Hall of Fame style award,

And when I heard that Latifa passed, I felt what an amazing way to...

to honor her really. So it's called the Latifa Sanneh Award. And I think, you know, everyone that will go on, get this award at some point or another, the people lucky enough to be awarded it, will show all the real qualities of Latifa. And I think that's really important. So.

It's also a good way for us to have, you know, everything, all the winners are out of our hands. And it's good for us to be able to give something from ourselves. So that's our way of doing it. So you could win any of the awards multiple times, but you can only ever be awarded the Latifa Sanneh once. And

It will, you know, for us, it's, you know, it's the creme de la creme, you know, it's, it's, it's the one we want people to be striving for to win. Now this year we're going to have four inductees, four people winning the Latifa Sanneh. Next year we'll have two or four and then it will probably only be then one a year from, from there on. Now it can be.

Scott Whitney (13:28.246)
awarded to members from within the all four inclusion community, people who go to the groups. can be awarded to people who've done outstanding achievements in the disability community. You know, we're not limiting it just to people within all four inclusion, but we also want to make sure that there is something that people from within our groups have got a higher chance of winning.

and the Latifa Sanneh will be able to recognise that as well.

Yeah that sounds really good. Scott tell me you're probably not allowed to have favorites but do you offer favorite category and if so why?

Yeah, it will be the Latifa Sanneh Award this year and it will, you like I'm, I'm tearing up kind of talking about it because it means so much. So, so yeah, it's, you know, it's something that is, that is personal.

Yeah, that's great. I mean, these awards, is this the third year of the ring, I think?

Scott Whitney (14:46.464)
Yeah, so it's the third year and it's the first year they will be they will be face to face.

That's fantastic. Tell me a little bit then about these awards because you've got all the past winners. Do you have any stories to share about how these awards have helped people in the past so people know how they will help people in the future?

So yeah, mean, first off, guess, you know, there's Donna who...

who when she came to some of our meetings was quite quiet initially. She's still not really loud and loud now, but she can really hold her own and her confidence has grown and grown. So on the first awards, she really stole the show. We have...

three guest speakers and we also in the first one we had Donna as well who came in as a guest speaker and she spoke about her plans of independent living and how she wants to grow.

Scott Whitney (16:21.45)
and being independent, live independently and she set all of that out and told, shared that with everyone. So that was really good. And then we get loads of messages, just like this message that I received on Sunday. I'm gonna, you know, it was a bit of a conversation, so I'm just gonna take some of my bits out, but as soon as I sent the nom,

to, as soon as I told someone they was nominated, this was the response I got to start with. It was, my goodness, no way, wow. And then thank you, thank you so much. And you know, an emoji face. Then it said, I was having a tough day and that's made me smile. Then went on to say, thank you so much. Honestly, I've been questioning why I'm still fighting at the moment.

We all put on this brave face and pretend like it's okay, but being disabled is hard and draining. I've been declined my kitchen adaptation. can't access my own kitchen. I was declined because I work. I've been told by my social worker and occupational therapist, I should quit my job and then they would adapt my home for free. What message does that send to disabled people?

I just want to stay as independent as possible. I already have carers coming in, but I want to be able to make my own sandwich. And one in five people who get told they're might send messages similar to that coming back. One in five, one in ten, it's a high number really.

And they're really sort of powerful messages. So that's when someone gets recognized for one of these awards, that's how they feel. And actually that's, I guess we should take away the recognition for the awards. We should actually just look at the starting point of how much they're fighting for normality and how much they're fighting just to be able to do what

Scott Whitney (18:46.966)
Many people assume everyone can do and are the basics of life. And there's people having to struggle to do that, to start with. And then on top of that, they're doing loads of amazing things. so yeah.

I mean just listening to you Scott, it sounds as though the work you do and these awards and the way people react to the awards is your inspiration. Not just what you do, it inspires you as well.

Yeah, I think I spend almost at the moment.

least a quarter of my year planning these awards.

It's an everything that kind of I try to do is to put someone in a better position than what they are now. Whether that be because it just puts a smile on their face for five minutes or whether they feel better equipped to resolve a problem or they just know that they've got someone that they can talk to. There's so many ways you can put someone in a

Scott Whitney (20:07.83)
in better position and I think if every interaction that we have with anyone, if we make them feel a little bit better than we did before we interacted with them, we've done something good.

Yeah.

Now all the categories you've got I believe you've got sponsors for most if not all of the categories so if you if we have Business people listening to this and they might be interested in sponsoring category. How do they go about it?

Yeah, categories wise, all the awards we've got sponsorship for, but we're still looking for more sponsors. you know, there's going to be people who can come to Manchester to watch the awards. So there's going to, you know, we're going to need sponsorship to help make them hybrid, to help get British Sign Language in there. Because although we are, you know, the

there are tickets available and people will pay for those tickets. Finalists won't be paying for the tickets. So the finalists will get them free. Sponsors who come will get them free. So actually the amount of tickets that are sold is fairly low and we've made it. So we want it to be as, you know, as a memo.

Scott Whitney (21:44.814)
memorable event as possible. we've got Frank Bruno is one of our guest speakers, former World Heavyweight Champion and Alex Manners is coming back and speaking for the second year. Alex Neurodivergent and he was on, I think it was Channel 4's on data balls. So we've got two absolutely awesome.

awesome speakers lined up this year. We're busy going through and planning some bits for the venue and right now. So yeah, we're just on track to make it as big a night as possible. And I know I'll probably have the same feeling on the night.

of the awards after it's all done as I did this year. I'll kind of have a big breath in, feel happy with how it's gone and as I exhale think next year now.

Absolutely. mean currently we've talked about you having nine categories. Do you see that expanding to more categories?

I don't know. I don't want to be in a situation where we're diluting what the awards mean.

Scott Whitney (23:22.36)
but there probably are more categories that we could have.

We've just got to really look at it and think, right, how do we fit it all in with it being as good and as memorable an awards as we can? By all means, if people think, you know, no one recognises us, let me know and we'll see what we can do next year.

But yeah, the first year it started off as four and most things with all four inclusions start off with the number four. Then we, when we added, we added four more, but this is our first year doing it face to face. So that was our big thing for this year. And then the Latifa Sanneh as well, which is why again, we're inducting four in, in the first year because you know,

We wanted it to be more than one, so if it's not one, we thought four was a good

Now that sounds brilliant. Now the obvious question, how can people enter? How can they nominate people for these awards?

Scott Whitney (24:46.35)
Yeah, so there is a nominations link which by the time we put this podcast out there'll be a blog on our website and on that blog it will show you how to nominate and it will also tell you how to take advantage of the discounted early bird tickets that we're selling if people want to come to the awards as well.

They're seeming to go quite quick at the moment. So, so hopefully when you're listening to this, they are still available. And yeah, I mean, that's, that's the way really is, is viral website, which we will make sure is at the bottom of the podcast as well. And if you're watching this as a little short on social media, we'll make sure it's there as well.

That's brilliant. That's all the questions I've got for you Scott. Is there anything else you want to add?

I'm just saying.

You know, if you're not sure about whether to nominate someone or not, nominate them. Because if it's in your mind that you think you might want to, there's probably a good reason why. So they're worth nominating. And, and you know, people get a, you know, a real buzz, a burst of positivity when they, when they receive the graphic to say, Hey, I've been, uh,

Scott Whitney (26:23.628)
I've been nominated and you know, some people, like I said, don't even, you know, may not have heard of all four inclusion and especially in some of the categories. So people generally associate us with menopause when they've been on to speak about menopause, but actually it's a category that gets quite a few nominations. So, you know,

people who don't know of the awards and then find out that they've been recognised, that's normally a really good buzz for them.

That's great. Thank you for your time Scott. It's really interesting and best luck with the awards.

Thank you.