Scope Reviews 93

I’ve been a member for over 4 years and had amazing support and met some great people with whom I’m so glad to call friends.
Past members have came on here to write appalling comments about admin and members so I felt I had to write this.
The admin have been great always there for support and advice when needed.
But when members don’t get to manipulate the community anymore the turn nasty against admin and other members.
The past few months some past members have caused a lot of upset and told so many lies even down to changing identities every now and then. They obviously have so much time on their hands to write nasty reviews and fake accusations.
I can honestly say I’ve had loads of good advice and also support.
Let’s hope the community can get to do what it does best without having to deal with negativity.

I've been a member of this online community for 5 years; I felt welcomed from the first day & find it a friendly, supportive community for everyone affected by disability.

I've stayed, because as a charity Scope is important to me, & it's been a pleasure getting to know other members, some of whom I'm fortunate to now call my friends.

The moderators have disabilities/health conditions themselves, which gives them that extra bit of understanding. They keep the community safe, & are all fair, kind, thoughtful, caring & supportive to members.

Members give advice from any knowledge they have; share their personal experiences to help others, & offer support to one another.

There are many categories to look at from cerebral palsy, benefits, housing, education, work, families & carers, to talking about your impairment, whether that be physical or mental, as well as the 'Coffee lounge' for a general chat.

Members can also make their own discussions, so there are plenty of options for all. Hope you come & join us.

After reading the recent reviews left by a small amount of disgruntled people on the Scope forums I wanted to include my own experience.

After joining the scope forums back in 2020 I have felt like part of the community the mods and members have worked hard to build, I have joined in with many of the ongoing topics and experienced nothing but support and kindness for everyone.

I love spending time reading the posts in the Coffee Lounge and making a few of my own, You will find lots of topics been discussed and something for everyone to join in with.
The Games Lounge is also a lot of fun and the Mods are regularly involved in the games, Albus especially likes to compete in Beat The Admins themed games although the members always win 🤭

Lately the forum has had a few issues with problematic members but the Mods are quick to act but this has caused them to turn to Trustpilot to leave negative reviews.

Don’t let this put you off joining the forum as lots of people are so friendly and you really will become part of the community quickly.

I just read a few terrible reviews of the Scope forum and wanted to put my opinion in.

I joined a while back because I was going through a few issues of my own. My reason for joining was just somewhere to go to have a chat, talk about issues I'm having, and be around real people. And I found that in the Scope forum. Everyone in there is nice, welcoming and understanding. The reviews I saw were pretty harsh about admin and other members. I've yet to see any nastiness or bullying going on. They were all very helpful. Then again, I'm not an attention seeker and don't think I can join a group and be top dog. I don't moan about my issues and I don't try to tell everyone else what to do. The games threads and the coffee threads are the places I like to post in. It helps take my mind off some of the problems I'm having. A fun forum for anyone who needs support or just to chill and join in with others going through the same thing. If you find it's not for you, you don't have to stay or announce your departure. And you don't need to go spit your nastiness all over the internet because people didn't bow down to you. Just quietly leave and get on with your life. Good luck!

Someone posted a really horrible and inaccurate review and shared it on the forum, after reading it I just had to write my own as Scope forum is the first place I ever felt comfortable and like I had people around that got me. Some of the comments about the forum seem so so so unfair and I have seen nothing of the sort, I've been a member for 2 years and although I don't always post I read every day. I found some of my best friends on the forum and also found my voice!!!

I love the forum staff, they're funny and patient and actually real people unlike other forums where you may as well be talking to bots!
Anywhere online has trouble makers and of course this forum is the same, but the admin are so caring and sort out problems quickly!!! Much love to you all and thank you ❤️❤️❤️❤️

The Scope forum
A veneer of inclusivity over a virtual rehab ward where flower-arranging and solemnly recording what one had for breakfast encouraged as better than any nasty disruptive thinking. Some people obviously very fragile; absolutely right they have a place where they feel safe, absolutely wrong that place pretends to represent the entire disabled community of 16 million.
“As a result, our membership increased overall from 577 in 2022 to 1,040 Members in 2023.”
Annual report | Disability charity Scope UK

That is the basic problem: a mental health forum that pretends it isn’t. Of course people do argue but the prevailing meme is that arguing is not quite nice and threads are closed if people breathe too heavily. Go to Scope to be ludicrously patronized; Nurse has bustled in and told the patients to settle. Bedtime! Fixed ideas of ‘all disabled people’ being anxious, depressed, needing help, probably suffering harassment - and in need of control. Appears run by the neurodivergent for the neurodivergent. Familiarity with various sets of initials from the MH world is assumed. A ‘this is your community’ line which in fact denies open discussion. Look, children, we’ve changed the colour scheme. Would you like more games? Rest assured proposed changes do not include making the forum a buzzing hub of opposition to attacks on the disabled. Questionnaires makes assumptions about the needs and wants of members which may not remotely be the case. Of course like every other forum on the Net the regulars like it just as it is and defend it. Other forums don’t claim to represent 16 million people
This is a fascinating about-turn from the experience of Deppi who posted below who said ND was not understood. She was entirely right about the tone of the place, the overlordship trip, defining people. ‘They think they are some kind of gods’ has not changed! Maybe a love of authority and control is a feature of some people’s conditions.

Many come. Few stay. They refuse to examine why. Lot of twitchiness, no repartee, flat. No taking up of ideas. The benefits helpdesk element is excellent but not separate and requests for advice swamp recent posts. No books or ideas. People love their pets and their gardens, which is great, but as a single physically disabled person I’m precluded from having both, so no engagement there.

Another theme is ‘we mustn’t be upset by clickbait’, the constant stream of lies about the disabled in the media which has in recent months been a flood. Indeed we should not and it has wantonly distressed many decent people, but why has nothing been done about it? Why has the regular publication of demonstrable lies not been made an issue of by Scope? Lot of wringing of hands. No action. No attempt to counter it. No campaigning to seize the moral high ground and change public opinion. No ideas for action. Not all are passive, but we’re certainly supposed to be.

I was searching around for a service to help me back into work after many years of unemployment. As I have a hidden disability, I eventually landed upon Scope's 'Support To Work' service, which promised a case worker and exclusive access to a jobs portal where I could search for work.

Well, where do I start... Firstly the jobs portal is one of the worst pieces of junk I've had the misfortune to use. In 3 weeks of being given access to this portal, the search engine found a whopping 3 jobs 'in my area', a distance of 20 miles from my address. One was for a housing company requiring social housing experience and 2 were for Scope shops.

When I told the case worker I was very disappointed with the jobs portal, I was told that it was an issue with the way that their website was maintained by the company who developed it. She told me the best thing to do was to make a list of the company names from the filter list of companies that advertise jobs on their portal, and look them up individually on Google to see if they have any jobs in my area. I thought what?! Then what is the point of the jobs portal? I did this for a handful of the companies and it was utterly useless, they had nothing. She also told me that she knew of more jobsearch websites to use and pointed me to a list. The list compromised of a handful of sites that returned next to no results.

She then recommended a scholarship in a Google Careers Certificate which would take 6 months to study one of a handful of certificates. The list she provided looked good initially until you realise that these courses are basic in nature and not very favourable with employers, who prefer to seek someone with experience over someone with one of these. I even studied and passed a google cert in the past and it's meant nothing to any employer I've shown.

So all in all, the service is no more than an idiot's guide to writing a CV, writing a covering letter and interview practise. But when it comes to resources to help find work, it's useless.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS this charity is A SCAM! A TOTAL SCAM! I'm sorry but it needs to be said from someone with insider knowledge.

It doesn't exactly help disabled people. It provides practical and emotional support and campaigns relentlessly for a fairer society (which they DON'T campaign relentlessly, they don't exactly wave flags of protest outside parliament. They just make silly little online campaigns to try and get people to spend more money).

It is DELIBERATELY unclear in it's "efforts". They say it HELPS disabled people so you'd expect it to HELP disabled people by providing SERVICES, not phoning up and getting some friendly advice over the phone and a number to jot down for somewhere else that can provide you with a service you actually need.

So where is the money going? STRAIGHT IN THEIR BACK POCKETS! And guess what! The shops are ridiculously OVERPRICED! I get it, they have high quality items but they are putting these things out there! I don't understand why or HOW they are getting items worth this much! Who in their right mind would give these things away? They are getting things worth HUNDREDS and even THOUSANDS and getting away with putting these things out there for around ⅓ of the original price for like £25, £50, £60, £80, £100, £150+. Nobody is going to go into a charity shop looking to spend that much money!

I mean just look at their online store: shop.scope.org.uk
£5 for a BOOKMARK! £5.99 for a Kaleidoscope GIFT PEN SET (contains 2 pens)! £2.49 for a CALENDAR (ITS JUNE!!!)! And the BAGS!!! Don't even get me started (in-store prices £1.29, online £21.50 for just ONE BAG). I get it, they are designed by disabled people and it's supposed to be a powerful message, but nobody is going to buy this for these prices!

And to volunteer for, well that is a huge joke! They rely solely on volunteers and without them they wouldn't exist. And they don't even treat their volunteers with respect, they treat them more like a "THEM" rather than an "US".

The paid staff are rude. They genuinely do not care. They are condescending, entitled and power-hungry freaks who get off on control. They mistreat their staff, lack respect for their customers and are only in it for the money and their own entitled sense of power!

As for the volunteers, they are LEFT by themselves to run the shop floor while the managers are out back. These volunteers are amongst the NICEST people, and they get all the stick for the prices of things and are at the forefront of most of the abuse by customers, when it's not even their fault.

AVOID this place, it's TOXIC and a SHAMBLES to society! If you think it can't be this bad, go and have a look for yourself! I'm not even joking! They don't understand little and often on the prices, and they don't care! ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS MONEY AND HOW MUCH THEY CAN ROB THE PUBLIC!

I sent a form to advise them about a reasonable adjustment issue with my local Council. All I received was info about the Council complaint system which is on the Council website and no reference to the reasonable adjustment in spite of related information shown on their website. This is not what I expect from a so called disability charity.

Anybody can set up their own website containing various disability information and then respond in a similar manner when asked a disability related question.

So much for “emotional support”. I’ve yet to see them do anything beyond simply posting information on their website and responding with unhelpful information. I’d be impressed if they actually showed some knowledge of the Equality Act instead of Council complaints rules, which isn’t exactly a specific disability related subject.

I often visit Scope Wakefield and always manage to find some great pieces of clothing,got my husband a lovely jumper looks like new £6,today found a lovely shirt M & S again looks like new £5.25. Cant fault them and its the way to shop now for me and it helps the charity

Lovely friendly staff, I have been volunteering here since August but, now I volunteer during the half term period. I always get a smile 😁 from Scarlett and Bal and all the volunteers there! They all work so hard so credit to them all! I always get a few cheeky bargains for half the price! ❤️😁

Worse company to volunteer. Higher management is the worse. I would not recommend working or volunteering. I feel sorry for shop management. They put to much pressure on. At the end of the day it a charity shop not a corporate retail. There no appreciation for what volunteer do. The get rid of you when something happens without even knowing the full story or talking to the manager of the shop who knows the volunteers. All they care about is the money the shop makes not what the shop management and volunteer do. If you say something they not doing is not right they ignore it and brush under the carpet. The prices of items are really high when they work from a structure. Other charity shops in bognor are much better. I would stay well clear. I would not recommend anyone to work for them

Worse place to shop. Prices so high. Staff always seem stressed and under pressurer. One volunteer with lovely make up is amazing. She so helpful. I would not go in if was not for her in the bognor regis shop

Begging For Donations!..These Charity shops make a fortune from selling goods online yet when you go into there shops and purchase something they beg customers for 50 pence for charity at the till. It Happen to me today at the Peckham Shop!! Even though they keep all the good donations to sell online and put out the crp stuff in their shops!.. Pure Greed.

The cheriton shop Folkestone used to be great to shop in , since the last manager left , the shop is dreadful.same old stuff in the windows for weeks. And on the shelf’s .

Excellent customer service. I spoke to Alex today who was extremely helpful and understanding. He explained things clearly and was polite and friendly! I’m very glad I called today to get the support I needed.

I have a disability and work full time. I wanted to carry on working but my disability has gotten to a point where I no longer able to carry out my work duties full time. I contacted Scope and spoke to Alex, I wanted advice on benefits if I were to drop my hours and what my earnings would look like. He was very helpful and wenthrough it with me. He eased my anxiety around my finances and gave me as much information around benefits. It would be easier if I just stopped working but even with a disability, I like to know I can still contribute to society that's why I'm still pushing to work even though I have been advise I shouldn't.
I would like to thank Alex and Scope for supporting disabled individuals such as myself

The Shadows of Scope

I joined their forum, which seems at first like a place you can get good advice and such. It isnt.

First of all, they lack any understanding of disability, and particularly Mental Health. They see disability as a card, as something that entitles to a certain benefit or eligibility for anything. From there they just copy paste gov.uk stuff as if you didnt know it in the first place.

in essence this is a cafe, a "share your pain" area of the internet. They are still a charity and enjoy donations, and i read here and elsewhere they are more of a business than any meaningful help to people.

All you get from them (again I speak about the forum) is the lowest, basic listening skills you can get anywhere. That is: paraphrasing what you say, asking a few questions, using words like "this must be too much", "i am so sorry x happened", "how are you feeling about that" and the standard blah blah you get form anyone who has done a 2 hours of listening skills online free course.

From that point, they have zero understanding of mental health, literally I have spoken to customer support of retailers who are more empathetic and understand struggles of Autism (in my case) than they do.

They rely on few individuals with physical disability fan base, very few indeed, about 5-10 but who appear on every post, and in reality instead of advice, they just say what happened with their case (which is useless by their own words, saying every case is different) and they look like having a race who get to have more posts (like the woman with the flower in her name).

Dont get me wrong, these people are there genuinely, but somehow they get absorbed by the core of scope, obey rules of positing like robots just to be allowed there, and eventually end up to be slaves of a illusion, a charity that has an agenda.

When it comes to you, taking part in an online community, you post your thoughts and if they dont like it, or understand it (because you are a neurodivergent and they are neurotypical) they lock and then remove your post, without a chance to explain yourself, and they draw their own neurotypical assumptions.

It is really a disgusting place, and to be totally fair, because it cancels mental heath disability, i did find some comfort at first, but all their advise was eventually wrong (like dont post your form next day delivery it will not get there any faster, when i sent 5 pists to DWP next day and it was in the system the next day).

In a nutshell they thing they are some regulatory organisation on what your disability is, how it affects you and how it defines you. They think they are some kind of gods amongst mortals.

After reading here, I am confident to say, avoid this place, it says charity, but its business as usual. I have read about charities that went rogue, and misused money, and i read here such allegations. I am not surprised at all.

I will say, I have my own mental health struggles, Take my review with caution, do your own research and approach this place with an open mind. But the other reviews here seem to justify my experience was not an accident, or generated in my imagination.

My support person was lovely and really tried.
Unfortunately they use inclusive interviewing and a points system. If you are older than the interviewer, or cannot manage their corporate waffle there is no point applying for a job here. Their systems are over the top and unneeded, like you need to learn a new language to stand a chance of interviewing successfully, non of them have common sense and like all "inclusive interview places" they are all under thirty. Even my local disability organisation warned me not to bother, if you are a robot who speaks like A1 and you are under thirty without a visible disability you might be ok.