🌱 Exploring ideas for community living & healing spaces

Cherry70
Cherry70 Online Community Member Posts: 46 Contributor
in Start here and say hello!

Hi everyone,

I’m Marybel and I live with fibromyalgia. Something that really helps me is creativity, and I’ve been dreaming about how we might design more supportive spaces for disabled people to live and heal together.

Would anyone here be interested in something like this? 💭 A community where:

  • Hot hydrotherapy and gentle wellness options are available (which I find really soothing for fibro pain)
  • Homes are co-designed with disabled individuals, to fit real needs and preferences
  • Regenerative agriculture and permaculture support sustainable living
  • Creative arts, exhibitions, and workshops are part of the healing process
  • There’s a strong sense of kindness, shared spaces, and community connection

I’d love to know if this resonates with anyone else here — whether you live with fibromyalgia, are interested in art therapy, or simply like the idea of reimagining community life together.

Looking forward to your thoughts ✨

xxxMarybel

Comments

  • Chris75_
    Chris75_ Online Community Member Posts: 3,670 Championing

    Sounds great, can we persuade Rod Stewart to fund it? 😁

  • Cherry70
    Cherry70 Online Community Member Posts: 46 Contributor

    Hey Chris,

    Lovely to meet you and thank you for your comment. I am curious, why Rod Stewart?

    Thanks

    Marybel

  • Chris75_
    Chris75_ Online Community Member Posts: 3,670 Championing
    edited September 10
    https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1066671#Comment_1066671

    Hi, Marybel, no reason other than he has been in the press over the last few years, helping people out.

    I met him you know, Rod Stewart. He stayed overnight in a now closed local hotel, was very happy to drink in the public bar. He takes being half Scottish very seriously!

  • Cherry70
    Cherry70 Online Community Member Posts: 46 Contributor

    Sounds great and I think there might be many celebrities and other influential people who could be interested in seeing more intentional communities focussed on solving problems and living better lives sharing resources. 😇

  • MW123
    MW123 Scope Member Posts: 1,632 Championing

    @marybelsalis

    Firstly, welcome to the community.

    Thank you for sharing this. It is such a thoughtful and inspiring idea. Recently, a friend and I, both widows, went to look around one of those new over 50s retirement villages. You know the sort: restaurant, bar, swimming pool, sauna, jacuzzi, bowling green, tennis court, and a calendar packed with activities. Everything was immaculate and gleaming, and while plenty of people will no doubt enjoy that, I realised within minutes I would find it suffocating. Lovely facilities, yes, but it felt more like signing up to a lifestyle programme than choosing a home.

    Some of what you describe, hydrotherapy, creative workshops, shared spaces, is already offered in these villages, but often as lifestyle perks for the active and mobile. Your vision feels more grounded, more intentional. Hydrotherapy as genuine pain relief, not just a spa extra. Homes planned with disabled people in mind, rather than a loose idea of accessibility. Creative workshops as part of healing, not simply something to pass the time. It comes across as kind and rooted in real needs, not glossy marketing.

    I do not have fibromyalgia, but I live with spinal stenosis, and I understand what it is like to be in a body the world is not built for, especially when spaces assume mobility and endless energy. What you are imagining sounds like a place where people could truly thrive, not just be kept busy.

    I would love to see this idea come to life, though it does make me wonder how something so thoughtful and inclusive could be funded, especially when the polished but shallow models tend to attract the bulk of investment. You mentioned the possibility of celebrity interest, perhaps some might be willing to support a project that prioritises care over optics. But beyond any initial backing, it would need to be sustained by residents themselves to keep the facilities running. Have you given any thought to how that might work in practice?

  • Cherry70
    Cherry70 Online Community Member Posts: 46 Contributor

    Thank you so much for your thoughtful response and warm welcome. I really appreciate you taking the time to reflect on my ideas in such a detailed and kind way.

    I completely understand what you mean about those new over-50s villages. That’s exactly what I hope to avoid: creating somewhere that prioritises comfort, accessibility, and purpose over marketing gloss.

    I love your observations about hydrotherapy, creative workshops, and shared spaces. That is exactly the vision—practical, healing, and rooted in real needs. Your point about bodies “the world is not built for” resonates deeply; designing with those realities in mind is at the heart of what I hope this project could be.

    Funding is definitely available, hidden under tons of red tape, and you’re right that many polished models attract investment more easily than thoughtful, inclusive ones. I’ve been exploring how cooperative and regenerative models could work in practice. For example, I’ve seen barns and farms available on lease for regenerative projects. With a permaculture background and experience in gardening, I’ve witnessed how abundant and self-sustaining nature can be when nurtured respectfully.

    There are inspiring examples, like the eco-village in France with low inclusive living costs (200 euros), and of course Findhorn in Scotland (https://www.ecovillagefindhorn.com), which show that cooperative, intentional communities can thrive. My thinking is that we could find suitable land, gather a group of like-minded people to co-create the project, agree on a house code that reflects everyone’s needs, and develop a management structure based on consensus. This would allow the project to be resident-supported, evolving together, rather than relying solely on outside investment.

    I was going to start a new discussion thread based on this when my laptop folded in, but I’ll try again today. I’d love to explore this further and share ideas about how such a community could really work in practice. Your perspective on lived experience with mobility challenges adds so much clarity to what’s essential, and I’d value your continued input.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM37RlD7OXA

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