Steven Chapman, Self-Advocate and Co-Chair of the Board at Bemix, talks self-advocacy and building international connections…

For years, I’ve been working on boards and teams in the Kent area, focusing on making sure people with learning disabilities and autistic people have their voices heard.

I want to see a world where they can lead, succeed, and be fully included in all parts of life.

December 10th is International Human Rights Day and the theme this year is ‘Our Right, Our Future, Right Now’ – celebrating how important human rights are to all of us in our day-to-day lives.

The day celebrates the power of human rights and is on the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. 

Learning Disability England champions Human Rights and the United Nations Convention on the rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and Good Lives is grounded in human rights.  

Representatives from Learning Disability England recently attended a meeting for the Social Care All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG).

Mary Woodhall (Self-advocate Rep), Marianne Selby-Boothroyd (Paid supporter Rep) and James O’Rourke (Family Rep) went along.

The APPG is a group of Parliamentarians from across lots of political parties who are all focused on making social care better.

The government have published a White Paper called Get Britain working – it says their plans to change the different kinds of help to work there is for young people and disabled people. 

There are positive actions in the plan to work across government on.

We hope this plan will lead to a focus on contribution so many more people with learning disabilities can work but also the other contributions people can make are supported and valued. 

Blog from Ivan Olbrechts – Family and friends member rep

Learning Disability England has been supporting the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) as they try to increase the quality and safety of nursing.

They want to do this by improving regulation of nurses in advanced practice roles.

In nursing, advanced practice means registered nurses with extra education and training that mean they can practice at a higher level.

This includes carrying out tasks such as assessment, diagnosis, and treatment.

This post will be talking about the Terminally ill Adults Bill and the conversations around it. 

It is going to mention some subjects that people might find upsetting, including: terminal illness, death/dying, Assisted Dying and DNARs. 

Blog by James Harrison – Tenant at Fairoak Housing Association

Ivan Olbrechts, family and friends Rep Body member, represented Learning Disability England members at a recent Department of Health and Social Care ‘stakeholder event’ about the Mental Health Bill and has written a guest blog about it:

Here they are again, providers moaning about the money. 

I work for a canny big organisation employing 350 staff to support 170 people.  We are a Co-operative and Community Benefit society with Charitable status.  We are not in it for the money.  

The Co-chairs of Learning Disability England have been thinking about the government’s budget and what that means for the LDE members they know and represent.