Gary Bourlet is 1 of the Membership and Engagement Lead at Learning Disability England.
I first met WECIL in early 2023 at their AGM in Bristol. WECIL stands for West of England Coalition for Independent Living. They are a user led organisation supporting all disabled people to live the life they choose through a fully person-centred approach.
I was there in 2023 to share information about Learning Disability England – who we are and what we do together with our members across England. I went back to WECIL on 13th June this year with our Operations Manager Jess, just before Learning Disability Pride Week, and 2 weeks before the general election.
WECIL were new members at the time, and it was exciting to introduce other members to a new member from Bristol, and the South West generally! WECIL invited me to share my own experiences of self-advocacy and to give my advice on how to be a good self-advocate.
We also shared Learning Disability England’s Good Lives framework and the Good Lives Manifesto, since we were in the lead up to the general election.
Jess and I met Cora Fern and Lucie Martin-Jones from WECIL. They introduced us to two different groups, one was the Project Workers group and the other was the Learning Group. The Project Workers want to set up an independent self-advocacy group and are working with WECIL to make that happen.
The Learning Group want to learn more about speaking up and campaigning and how to do it. I had a really interesting morning with the Project Workers Group and sharing my experiences as a self-advocate with over 35 years worth of stories to tell.
We also had some really good chats about how to be a self-advocate and how to set up special groups to help. You can watch the film that Learning Disability England made with Brighton and Hove Speak Up all about the history of self-advocacy here.
I spent the afternoon with the Learning Group talking about the Good Lives framework and Good Lives Manifesto. Now that the General Election is over, the work to make Good Lives a reality for people with learning disabilities is just starting.
All members of Learning Disability England have a part to play. Can you help by writing to your MP to ask how they can help make Good Lives a reality? There is a template letter to help you here.
It was so good to talk to some of the self-advocates in Bristol, hearing about all the things that they are involved in to make lives better for people with learning disabilities in their local area. Everyone was so friendly and warm! I am looking forward to working with WECIL again. And with other members too. We are stronger and louder, together!