Creating Connections: tackling isolation and loneliness through partnership
About this event
Watch to find out how 24 user-led groups have been working together to keep people connected during the pandemic.
People with learning disabilities, autism and sight loss often face barriers to being included in both the real and digital world. For many the pandemic had made this worse, leading to feelings of isolation, anxiety, and mental health challenges.
The Creating Connections Programme, designed as a six month pilot, was launched in September 2020 to support people with learning disabilities to grow digital skills and confidence to help them keep connected.
Working in partnership with Leaning Disability England and 24 locally-based peer-led groups has enabled us to build on local knowledge, experience and networks.
In this webinar, they discuss the findings of the network, highlight good practice, and discuss insights for further development of the programme. They look at:
• The Creating Connections network and how 24 locally-based peer led groups have collaborated
• Impact and outcomes
• Ambitions, horizon scanning, and plans for the future
Speakers include Veronica Mulenga from SeeAbility and Sarah Wheatley, Tania Woodhouse and Janet Allen from Connect in the North
This webinar was aimed at support providers and user-led groups but was open to all Learning Disability England Members. You can become a member for as little as £12 a year, click here to find out more.
Self advocacy and families supporting each other – Hate crime session
About this Event
We started these sessions during the first lockdown to help self-advocacy and family organisations connect and work together. We were all facing new challenges and were unsure what was the best thing to do to help people keep safe and still stay connected or not become more isolated.
These sessions are a chance to find new ways of working as the pandemic continues but to also share and connect more generally.
The sessions will be open to everyone who has been part of this work since March plus any other member of Learning Disability England who wants to join in and take part. They are aimed at members who support self advocacy or community groups that include people with learning disabilities.
If would like to join LDE’s membership, you can get more information here.
Please join us if you can or email us if you want to connect but cannot make this date. We hold these sessions every 2 weeks 🙂
Managing shared household expenses: What’s best practice?
About this event
This session talks about how people who live together can decide how to share the costs of household expenses and what best practice is.
This session talks about how people who live together can decide how to share costs such as food shopping, bills and furniture. We also talk about how to manage a shared vehicle and what the alternatives are.
We share our experience of being appointees and financial advocates over one thousand people with a learning disability and working with over 200 support providers to share good practice, ideas and some warnings; focusing on how we can use the Mental Capacity Act to ensure each person’s money is used in the right way for them and they have access to what they need.
The session is hosted by:
Meike Beckford was until recently Lead Director at Dosh with eight years’ experience supporting people with their money as an advocate, as well as delivering training and consultancy across the country to self-advocates, support providers, social workers and families.
Phillipa Gould is a Financial Advocate in the East Midlands and also leads Dosh’s specialist advocacy work. Prior to working for Dosh, Phillipa was a support team manager of several supported living services.
This webinar was for Learning Disability England members only.
You can become a member for as little at £12 a year, click here to find out more.
Census 2021 – What you need to know and how to get support
About this Event
Census Day 2021 took place on 21st March. This Census took place during a pandemic, while we were still in lockdown.
The Community Partnerships Team at the Office for National Statistics presented about Census 2021 in this online webinar.
The webinar was aimed at people with learning disabilities, their families and the organisations who support them who had questions about how the Census team will support them.
The webinar covered how the Census team have made sure information is accessible; and the support in place to help people with learning disabilities to complete the Census form.
The topics covered include:
• What the census is
• Why it is important
• When it happens
• What you need to do
• How you can get help
• How you can help others and spread the word
Coronavirus and people with learning disabilities – what do we know now?
About this Event
This workshop is open to people with learning disabilities, family members, and paid supporters; as well as people with responsibility for commissioning or delivering services and those in policy or development roles.
It will include input from self-advocates on people’s direct experiences, information on COVID-19 and people’s health, and the findings so far from the Coronavirus and people with learning disabilities research project (https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/cedar/covid19-learningdisability )
The speakers include
- Gary Bourlet from Learning Disability England
- Annie Ferguson from PMLD Link
- Chris Hatton from Manchester Metropolitan University
- Richard Hastings from the University of Warwick
