A BRADFORD disability charity has received a grant of more than £111,000 in the latest round of National Lottery funding.

Bradford Talking Media, based in Manningham, has successfully secured £111,957 from the Big Lottery Fund to fund a two year project giving disabled people in the city the chance to learn digital media skills.

The charity’s Hear Our Voice project will begin by offering taster sessions for disabled people who might want to get involved with the project.

Following on from those sessions, people who have joined up to the project will then take part in training activities including filming, multimedia experience, computer skills, editing skills and production skills.

The charity was presented with its cheque for the National Lottery funding by Kersten England, chief executive of Bradford Council.

Sue Crowe, managing editor of the charity, said: “A lot of hard work went into securing this funding for supporting work with disabled people right across the Bradford district.

“It is a credit to our staff and volunteers as they were the inspiration for the work that is proposed with the support of National Lottery funding.

“When we did research for this project idea we spoke with many disabled people from across the whole district and they said they wanted to learn how to use technology to tell their own stories and have their voice heard.”

Bradford Council will also be supporting the project over the next two years to ensure as many disabled people as possible are given an independent voice.

John Simpson, chair of the management committee of Bradford Talking Media, added: “I am delighted that Bradford Council saw the work that Bradford Talking Media do with disabled people as worth investing in so that their voice can be valued and heard.”

Councillor Sarah Ferriby, executive member for healthy people and places, said: “We are delighted that Bradford Talking Media have been awarded this funding.

“We look forward to working closely with them on the Hear our Voice project which will highlight the ambition of our learning disabilities transformation programme through the use of technology.

“This is why Bradford Council wished to support the rights of disabled people through this project.”

The aim of Hear Our Voice to is enable more disabled people to participate and contribute to their local communities, and influence the development of the services they use in their daily lives.

BTM helps people who cannot access the written word, including people with visual impairment, poor literacy skills, learning disabilities, other disabilities than made it difficult to read and write, and people who speak English as a second language, get access to the information they need.