Let’s all keep working together!

We’re all in this together – let’s keep working together

Blog by Gary Bourlet, self advocate and member of the LDE team

We need to take inspiration from Formula 1 racing manufacturers who are coming together during these difficult times and making ventilators for our hospitals.

We need to take inspiration from supermarkets as they are joining up as one, not just trying to get the most business, but making sure there’s food for everyone in the stores together.

It’s great to see self-advocacy organisations, families, carers and provider organisations following these leads to work together to provide services together for the sake of people with learning disabilities and/or autism.

These different groups all have their own strengths and a different viewpoint, so by joining up in these hard times it could be really powerful.

Nobody has had to deal with these types of international issues before and it is a chance for groups to get even better at co-working and learning from each other as they all struggle to deal with the crisis.

The different groups are often all fighting for similar things but can still be competitive. But this is no time for competition. This is time for collaboration. It’s great to see this is happening.

Communication is so important – making a digital radio station, joining together to improve social media networking, making sure everyone has the technology to be able to take part in video sharing etc.

That’s why we have developed our Resource Hub. This will help keep people with learning disabilities and/or autism connected with their families, friends, carers and providers during these hard times.

Please spread the word to everyone who works in the field of people with learning disabilities and/or autism, their families, carers and providers that we are all in this together and so we need to keep working together and carry on helping each other stay strong.