Self-advocacy for people with profound and multiple learning disabilities

Guest blog from Jan Walmsley on encouraging people with profound and multiple learning disabilities to be more involved in self-advocacy.

 

 

Read the easy read summary here.

 

 

Self-advocacy and people with profound and multiple learning disabilities do not often go together. I noticed this when I first learnt about it in the 1980s. Jackie Downer, LDE lifetime member and a pioneer of ethnically sensitive self-advocacy put it like this when we wrote a chapter together

“I think it can work but it will take time. And we people with learning difficulties, we got no time.” (Walmsley and Downer 1997 p. 44).

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Speaking out and having a learning disability

A conversation between Shaun Webster and Gary Bourlet

Last week saw the end of the Learning Disability England Virtual 2021 Conference.

It was amazing to hear from so many inspirational self-advocates .

 

One of the main things that became very clear is that the voice of self-advocates must be heard far and wide.

In fact, all people with a learning disability should be given a platform to use their voice and the media plays a big role in this.

 

Shaun Webster MBE, is an author and a campaigner for the rights of disabled people and also has a learning disability himself.

Gary Bourlet has been a self-advocate for over 30 years and is our Membership and Engagement lead.

 

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