Gary Bourlet, Membership and Engagement Lead at Learning Disability England, shares why he believes hope is important if we want good lives for all people with learning disabilities.

People with learning disabilities, and their families, have spent a long time fighting for their basic rights. 

Lots of people are still fighting. There are still difficult and unfair things happening to people with learning disabilities. 

For example, some people still experience hate crime, live in housing that doesn’t meet their needs, get fair chances to work and face health inequalities.

Sadly, some people are even abused by people who are meant to care for them. 

Because of this, it can be easy to feel down. It can be hard to feel hopeful when these things are happening, and when there are many other bad things happening in the world too. 

We are not pretending these problems do not exist. That is not what this is about. 

Hope means using these problems as a reason to keep trying to make things better in the future. 

Yes, achieving good lives for everyone with learning disabilities will be difficult. But without hope, we will never get there. 

There is good reason to have hope. When I started campaigning for better lives for people with learning disabilities nearly 40 years ago, very few people with a learning disability were living good lives.  

It felt like a long way off that things would ever change. Now, slowly, many more people with learning disabilities are living good lives. 

Learning Disability England has recently become a partner in the A Million Acts of Hope campaign. This campaign brings together acts of hope and shines a light on the people and communities making them happen. 

The campaign wants to connect people and reminds us that kindness and positive action are still happening in the world. 

There are many examples of good change happening in our community that give us hope for the future. 

You only need to look at the Good Lives Framework. In each chapter there is a section called “what good looks like.” 

This shows many examples of action that are helping people with learning disabilities have good lives. 

This work is being done by good people. People who want to make things better are always around, even when times feel dark. That is a good reason to have hope. 

Self-advocate Members Representative Kumudu Perera shares why he thinks having hope is important:

“Hope is about positivity and can bring broadminded people together to support each other. When disability charities like Learning Disability England have hope and work together with people who have lived experience of disabilities, they can make positive changes in hospitals, communities, social care and health and education.”

Another thing I love about the A Million Acts of Hope campaign is that it brings people together. It brings together people from different backgrounds and walks of life who all want to create a better world. 

This is also what Learning Disability England is about, being stronger, louder, and together. 

I do not think Good Lives will become a reality for everyone with a learning disability unless we come together and work for it.

Hope is what keeps us going when things get tough. 

I would love to hear what you are doing this week to spread hope. 

You can find other ways to get involved in A Million Acts of Hope here.

You can also join a Learning Disability England webinar on Wednesday called “Hope and action for our social lives” (open to everyone).

In this session, you will hear about resources and information that can help us remove barriers so everyone can have a good social life. 

Sign up here.