Message from our CEO, Andrew Richardson

I am excited to share House With No Steps’ new Vision, Mission and Values statements with you. These few vital words capture the essence of House With No Steps (HWNS) – our beliefs, our hopes and our values.

The directors of HWNS and I feel privileged to have been involved in reshaping these few vital words. However, our role was peripheral. Over a thousand people from across HWNS contributed their thoughts, passions and perspectives to this process, under the very capable facilitation of our “Future Visions Team”. We also drew heavily on our comprehensive surveys of our clients, families, staff and supported employees and held discussions with a broad range of external stakeholders and experts in the non profit and disability sectors.

I hope that you can join me in feeling inspired by the new statements and the sentiments that underpin them.

Our new vision

“Inclusive communities which respect, value and empower all people with a disability”

Our vision is for a society in which every local community demonstrates that it truly respects, values and empowers all people with a disability. I look forward to working with everyone at HWNS – along with our clients, families, partners, supporters, government agencies and the broader community – to help make this dream a reality.

Our new mission

“To create opportunities for people to make the most of their abilities”

What a great summary of our purpose and the work that we do! A good mission statement answers the question “Why do we exist?”, and this statement hits the nail right on the head. I love its positive focus on ability and achievement. It also makes it clear that our role is to treat people with a disability as respected equals by providing the support that they need to succeed in their own right, rather than doing everything for them. This positive, empowering approach has always been a hallmark of HWNS.

Our five organisational values:

Empowerment

Respect

Inclusion

Commitment

Achievement

These values reflect the most deeply held beliefs across our organisation and provide the philosophical and moral framework for everything that we say and do.