The London lunch is a real eye opener because of the amazing people who attend - so diverse, complex and honest. -- Steve
Outsiders has helped me so much. Through my new found confidence, I now get on with my life in a positive way. Volunteering in the office has helped because I feel that I am achieving something very important. I enjoy organising the social activities, helping with the lunches and running the Outsiders helpline. I am no 'do gooder'. I work from the heart.I have made some wonderful, loyal friends who accept me for who I am and rather than who they would like me to be. I have met some fantastic people with whom I have shared amazing experiences.
I've been on many dates with men from which have taught me a lot - especially how to be happy in my own skin. Now I am in a relationship with a gorgeous guy who I met though Outsiders.
I feel I have grown up and am learning all the time and making the most of what Outsiders has to offer. Providing you are willing to get out there, you too can make the most of YOUR life. -- Eleni
I feel so much happier than before, just being in contact with people who understand. I am infinitely less lonely and see to have lost that dreadfully painful feeling of isolation altogether. -- Pat
For me personally, Outsiders has been totally fulfilling. I can't think of a moment I have been disappointed. Outsiders has opened so many doors to me, that I often find it hard to understand why it isn't like that for everybody. -- Eric
I feel I've come on so much since joining Outsiders. Up until I joined about a year ago I only really mixed with people from work, because I didn't have the confidence to go out on my own. Now I have met and made friends with a huge variety of people
THE BEST CLUB IN THE WORLD - and it is our pleasure and privilege to have been OUTSIDERS. -- David and Elsie (who met through Outsiders)
I have made three good friends through Outsiders who have helped me to gain confidence as I am very shy. I am moving into my own flat, leaving home for the first time at 31. -- Jenny
I came to Outsiders with a view to helping out at the luncheons in London and running workshops there (because of my previous experience working in this field). Immediately I was greeted with such warmth and enthusiasm, I knew it was a safe space and a group that I would love to be involved with.Then life dealt me a few twists and turns. I had previously been in full health but something was changing, eventually I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME).
Two years later, my symptoms mean that I am still unable to work and I most definitely would identify myself as someone with a disability.
It is only now that I think I can fully appreciate Outsiders in all its forms and meanings.
Feeling part of a larger group has made a lot of difference. Reading the newsletter, checking out the website and above all, realising that being 'different' is in some ways more normal than being 'normal' has been where I have really gathered strength from Outsiders. It is all too easy to feel isolated when you are suffering from a particular condition. Outsiders helps me feel connected to a wider group.
The campaigning work of Outsiders is - to me - of crucial importance. So many people assume that disability equals no fun, no flirting and no sex. It is very important that these assumptions are challenged and the wider life experience of disabled people is represented.
Outsiders isn't about sex per se, but it is about being in a pro-sex atmosphere where people are treated as adults and their rights and choices are respected. After all, sexuality is a right not a privilege.
Outsiders not only spreads the word on disability rights, but through the helpline, lending library and workshops it can help members to attain the knowledge and confidence to assert these rights and live the kind of life they, as adults, want to.
Long live Outsiders! -- Victoria
I've never read anything so perceptive as the Outsiders literature. -- Marnie
When I first joined Outsiders, I was depressed, agoraphobic and isolated by a stutter that I thought would always prevent me from making friends, let alone finding a relationship. The club gave me the chance to be more adventurous in a friendly and supportive environment. I now have a job, a partner and a son. My advice to a new member would be twofold: stick at it, and get involved. -- Paul
Outsiders listens and helps members solve our problems. With their help I can now enjoy pain-free intercourse. -- Lily
When I feel down and depressed I pick up a copy of the Outsiders magazine INSIDE and it always cheers me up. -- David
We live in a world of commodified physical perfection, so anyone who does not fit into some narrow and superficial view of 'beauty' or even 'attractiveness' is seen as a non-starter. I feel this is the real down side of global capitalism: the emphasis on the visual, the external, and ultimately the purchasable. As long as the idea can be sold that desirability can be acquired by buying beauty products, slimming aids and plastic surgery, big business can continue to make huge profits and disabled people will continue to feel marginalised. If the idea took hold that these things don't matter and it's what you're like on the inside that counts, we could start a revolution and get us back to a world where the value system was based on something with more integrity than the profit motive. -- Jane Gibbin, Patron
Thank you for the birthday card. Life's lonely in the country!.-- Sue
I have a social disability: depression, anxiety and often feel trapped. This made it impossible to travel. But, having made it all the way to visit another member, the delightful Ruth, I was inspired to travel to Northampton for the medical for my pension infirmity benefit application. Ruth sadly passe away but I still enjoy my pension. Outsiders has helped me in many other ways. Recently, it has helped me come to terms that I am 'happily single' and don't need a relationship to feel fulfilled and be content. It's nice to know there's still one organisation that has not been hi-jacked by the quangos or big business. -- John
It was surely great to meet you and everyone else there on Saturday. It felt really good just to be accepted. -- Vics
Outsiders is a widely-spread family of very different, very special people who join us without hope, but gain hope and hopefully, much, much more. -- Tuppy Owens, founder
The club's value lies, for me anyway, in providing an environment where I might resolve some of my doubts over my sexuality and its implications. Where there are people I can trust sufficiently, with with whom, since they acknowledge my sexuality as a matter of course, I can speak frankly and expect from them a response which will be of use. Help. Moreover, it provides an environment that does not humiliate and de-humanise, by flinging around in County Halls and social workers' files (at least as far as I know) my personal problems. Other organisations dealing with the problems of disabled people and books which serve to highlight the sexual problems may bring awareness, but they often shy away from doing more than raising expectations in what is little more than a clinical vacuum. Thus the club serves as an over-all enhancement. It is concerned with sex in its significant place beside emotions and sociability - the important thing is it knows it can't, shouldn't discourage diminish or try to leave out sex altogether. -- Alan