Dear Friends and Supporters,
Self-Advocacy
Campaigns & Projects
Social Murder Festival
At the beginning of July we were part of the Social Murder festival. We went to a conference at Manchester Metropolitan University. It was separated into 3 themes:
- Misunderstanding
- Ignoring
- Refusing
We talked about what these 3 things look like and how they contribute to social murder.
Social murder is when a group of people face disadvantages in society that contribute to them dying. People with learning disabilities face inequalities in their social life, money, housing and health that contributes to a lower life expectancy. They still die 20 years younger than other people, and it is often from a preventable death.
Saba Salman spoke at the conference about her book “Double Discrimination”. Our very own rep Aisha is in the book, talking about being a black person with a learning disability. You can buy this book on Amazon!
As part of the festival we also went to the House of Lords to talk about people with learning disabilities dying before their time. It was a hard day, but we said the things that needed to be said. We want to thank Lord Scriven for bringing this topic to the House of Lords, because it shouldn’t be kept silent.
We Can’t Wait Campaign
After the festival, we were invited to Oxford by My Life My Choice to meet with the self-advocacy groups who are part of the We Can’t Wait campaign. We identified 8 reasons why people with learning disabilities die younger than other people, and we decided what needs to change for each of them.
We agreed that we need to work together with all the self-advocacy groups around the country – our voice is stronger together!
Positive Voices
We need to stand together and that’s why it was important to us to go back to the Positive Voices conference this year. It is run by Dudley Voices for Choices at Birmingham Aston University and it’s the 5th year!
This year’s theme was “Is This Unreasonable?”, where we talked about Reasonable Adjustments. We shared the challenges in our own lives, and what adjustments would help us. We thought about how we work together to push for adjustments that we all need. Some things that came up were about transport and health.
“I heard one thing that I really agreed with – we shouldn’t call them reasonable adjustments. Who decides if they are reasonable? They are just adjustments. We wouldn’t use the word “reasonable” to talk about non-disabled people getting into work or getting an appointment” – LSU rep
People's Parliament
Back at home, we had our Creativity and Communication People’s Parliament. It’s been over 2 years in the making!
We have been working with Entelechy Arts, exploring the topic of how can people labelled with PMLD advocate for themselves and be part of policy making? So we decided to bring together people with learning disabilities, whether they’re mild, moderate, severe or profound, of all different strengths and abilities, or ways of communicating.
We had 2 creative presentations, and for the first time in a while all of our guest speakers had learning disabilities. The first was Pino from Heart N Soul (and a long-standing LSU member) who presented his video with his original music and script. The second was Hannah James, Associate Director of Entelechy Arts, who presented her dance video TREEYOS.
We had creative workshops on drama, music and movement, and art, all looking at how these creative ways of being can help us understand and express ourselves and our views.
Then after lunch, we were joined by the Ambient Jam Collective, and we took over the Council Chamber with our movement, art, music and vocal improvisations. We think it might be the first time people with PMLD have been in that space, and it was certainly their first time as presenters or performers. It was a chance for us to just be ourselves. We thought about what that could do for policy making.
We are looking forward to sharing our report about what it taught us. For now, we will share this quote:
“You weren’t pointed at, and you weren’t made to feel alone. You can be sitting way at the back and someone will just come and interact with you. We were given the chance to actually see the truth of who we are.”
Our next People’s Parliament will be on Friday 11 December
from 10.30 – 3.00 at the Catford Civic Suite. Topic to be confirmed.
Email Ellie at ellie.spirrett@lsup.org.uk or phone 020 8692 1862
1-2-1 Advocacy
Finance Advocacy
Since the last newsletter I was asked to deliver a Universal Credit information session at EveryStory for the relatives of people with learning disabilities. We wanted to help families understand the process of Universal Credit, as they often help family members with learning disabilities to manage their money. The session was successful and we have been asked to run another session about PIP, which I’m looking forward to!
I have also been working with Oliver James from Kings College Hospital Homeless Nurse Team. Through him I have found out that local hospitals often have a homeless nursing team. They support people who are homeless and have ended up in hospital. They work with the hospital’s Learning Disability Nurses and Oliver and his team are based in the same office as Eunice – Kings College Learning Disability Nurse, who used to work in Lewisham!
This is a great service for the NHS to have in hospitals. They will support homeless patients to attend supported living assessments, pay for any cab fares to attend appointments and talk to organisations like Lewisham Speaking Up. This has been really helpful for me working with a person with a learning disability who needed emergency accommodation.
Finally, I have met the new information Advice & Guidance Officer for Lewisham Mencap, Hannah Blake–Williams. She will be at the Leemore Centre on Thursdays to help any Lewisham Mencap members who need information and advice about Lewisham services. We will be working in partnership to help each other. Let me know if you are a Lewisham Mencap member and would like to know how either Hannah or myself can help!
Community Advocacy
Hi guys, hope you are all well.
Do you remember in our last newsletter, I shared a story of a woman looking for appropriate support?
Her social worker had sourced a care provider which came highly recommended. Unfortunately, they only provided limited hours, which was insufficient and therefore he had to find another service provider to make up the required hours.
However, after careful consideration we decided not to go with support from two different service providers as there were concerns it may be too overwhelming for the person being supported. We all agreed she should get all her support from one care provider.
After searching for some time, the social worker located another reputable service provider who could offer her the required hours. The assessment was successful and it was agreed that she would be provided with several different support workers as she had the penchant to form very close attachments. The support workers would assist her in attending benefit or medical appointments and also help her to learn and use daily life skills and experiences.
We believe the decision was appropriate, because receiving care from one provider means she can have consistency. Having different support staff will hopefully prevent unhealthy attachments, but should create and secure bonds with regular support workers, who will share different experiences, skills and knowledge that will broaden the person’s life skills. Equally significant, it will give her the opportunity to come out of her isolation and socialise and learn new hobbies that will occupy her day and improve her mental and physical wellbeing. She admits she is a bit anxious about engaging with new people but is looking forward to receiving support and socialising.
This person has been through much trauma in her life and was very distrustful of services. It’s been a long haul getting to this point, but with support from us and others, I am very pleased that she finally has the support that she so desperately needs.
Upcoming Events
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM)
This year our AGM will take place on Friday 20 November at 12pm at the Leemore Centre. Please put this date in your diaries and look out for the invitation!
Big Group
Join us every month at 10:30 at the Leemore Centre.
The Big Group talks about interesting topics that you told us you would like to discuss.
The next Big Groups will be on Wednesday:
28 October, 25 November and 16 December
Zoom Group
Update! Link up on Zoom every Thursday at 6pm to catch up and talk about the latest news and other interesting topics. We will send you a Zoom link.
Contact us
General email:
Phone:
020 8692 1862