What you need to know about face coverings
A video blog by Gary Bourlet, Membership and Engagement Lead at Learning Disability England
NEW
What happens during and after my appointment
Ciara talks about getting her vaccine – a video from Mencap
Emily talks about getting her vaccine – a video from Skills for People
Shamima and Yasmin talk about getting the vaccine
A guide to your Covid vaccination – from Public Health England
Short film about how important it is to have the Covid vaccine and what you should do after you’ve had it – from NHS England
Having a coronavirus vaccine – animated video from Dimensions UK
What to do after your Covid vaccination – an animated film from NHS England
Coronavirus vaccinations: a video guide for people with learning disabilities and carers – from NHS Devon CCG
Vaccine in a car park video – from Heart News
Liverpool vaccine clinic for learning disabled people – Guardian article
Supporting Amanda, who has a learning disability, to overcome her fear of needles – video from Primary Care Wirral Federation
What happens at your appointment – NHS Guidance
What it was like for Sean, who has Down’s Syndrome, getting the Covid Vaccine – a PowerPoint presentation
Jemma’s COVID-19 Vaccination Story – Jemma tells Ace Anglia what happens when she got her vaccine and what you should expect
Guidance about what to expect after your Covid-19 vaccine – Public Health England
Video on what to Expect After Getting the COVID-19 Vaccine – from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
What happens at the Covid vaccine centre and how to ask for help– video from Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
Wordless Story on Having a Vaccine for Coronavirus – from Books Beyond Words
More about Membership
Learning Disability England is bringing people and organisations together to create a movement for change where people with learning disabilities, families, friends and paid supporters come together on an equal basis.
When you join Learning Disability England, you are becoming part of this movement.
This means you are agreeing with our aims.
We organise our membership to reflect three different experiences and voices:
– Self-advocates (including self-advocacy organisations)
– Families and friends (including family carer and support organisations)
– Paid supporters and partners (including individuals who work in social care, service providers, commissioners, universities, development agencies and others)
Membership of Learning Disability England is an opportunity:
To be a part of the change Learning Disability England members are making together
To influence and inform the campaigning, influencing and key messages Learning Disability England uses in its work with partners, government or members.
All members get:
Up to date information, news and resources including a weekly email newsletter.
Help to be well connected and not isolated by joining a network of like-minded people and organisations.
Access to events, meetings and conferences we run at a reduced rate or free where we can.
This includes being entered into a lottery for a free ticket to our annual conference.
A formal vote on key decisions, including Representative Body elections.
A say in what Learning Disability England does day to day.
Groups and organisations also benefit by:
Helping your organisation’s mission
By supporting work or campaigns you agree with.
By contributing to a wider benefit to your community of interest or
beneficiaries.
Helping change and improve what you do
You get good information, solutions to problems and new ideas through facilitated co-production and quality and improvement tools and networks.
Everyone is challenged, based on rights and people with learning disabilities’ priorities – a conscience and a help.
Facilitated problem-solving networks or debates on issues that face people and organisations including policy and practice changes.
For example, Learning Disability England members have worked together on challenging the misuse of DNAR notices and directly influenced the work on stopping them.
Paid supporter organisational members with a turnover of £1 million or more get a free place at the annual conference.
Enhanced paid supporter organisational members also get 2 days of free direct support from the Learning Disability England team on a relevant issue chosen by the member.
We work hard to make sure that people with learning disabilities’ voices are strong in Learning Disability England and not drowned out.
So we keep a check on what experiences individual members bring, as well as making sure organisations do not have more say on what we do because they are big or have more money.
What we do when things go wrong
If a member behaves in a way that may go against our beliefs or policies, Learning Disability England follows a set process to decide if they should leave.
Learning Disability England aims to have a strong and positive network of members with shared aims and who work well together and support each other.
To achieve this, Learning Disability England has policies in place that state our beliefs as an organisation and how we expect members to behave.
Learning Disability England develops these policies by speaking to members about what’s important to them and adopting good policies that already exist.
If Learning Disability England is told or finds out that a member is behaving in a way that goes against our beliefs or policies, we will follow our Members Working to Shared Aims Policy and Operational Procedures.
Learning Disability England does not exist to check on members.
But it does not want to stand by if any members are not acting in line with the
aims and values.
And in line with these values, Learning Disability England service or support organisation members must always involve people and families in decision making about their lives – ‘nothing about us without us’.
We will always remember that:
• Learning Disability England’s membership has people who share the same aims but might do things in different ways.
• Members must agree with our four aims and act in line with them and the values.
• We do not expect any Learning Disability England member to be perfect. We do expect them to be trying to do things better and learn from mistakes.
But if there is a big problem that we cannot sort out, the member might have to leave Learning Disability England.
If a member is asked to leave but they disagree with the decision, the member can appeal to a sub-group of Trustees or Rep Body members. Their decision will be final.
Making sure members are equal and heard
Equality is a big issue for people with a learning disability and Learning Disability England. That’s why we work hard to make sure every member is treated equally and their voice is heard.
A key way all members are treated equally is by giving them only one vote each on big Learning Disability England decisions.
So whether you are one person with a learning disability, a family member or friend, or a small or big organisation, you only get one vote.
Each member also has an equal vote on who should represent them on Learning Disability England’s Representative Body.
The Representative Body acts on the behalf of members and makes important decisions about what Learning Disability England says and does.
The Representative Body also plays a key role in deciding whether a member should leave or not when things go wrong.
Lifetime Members
Learning Disability England Lifetime members have been awarded lifetime membership for the work they have done or inspired in making Learning Disability England happen.
Jenny Carter
Patricia Charlesworth
Sarah Cookson
Simon Cramp
Jackie Downer MBE
Steven Neary
Sui-ling Tang
Shaun Webster MBE
Covid 19 vaccine, booster and treatment information UPDATED 24/01/22
This page was UPDATED on 24 JANUARY 2022
On Sunday 12 December 2021 the Prime Minister announced that all people aged 18 or over would be offered a Covid Booster vaccine by the end of December 2021.
This is because the Omicron variant of the virus is spreading quickly.
Keep Safe from PhotoSymbols has made some new posters about Omicron and the booster.
There are 3 ways to book your booster:
- You can book an appointment online: Book online here
- You can find a walk in vaccination centre and just turn up for your booster. Find walk in centres here
- You can book via your GP. Contact them if you’re not sure
You have to wait 3 months from the date of your 2nd vaccine before you can have the booster.
Read the easy read guidance about the booster here
Read the easy read guidance about Covid vaccination here
Watch a short video that tells you more about why vaccines are so important.
Books Beyond Words have updated their wordless books about Covid.
In January 2022 the government announced some changes to testing and isolating.
This was part of Plan B because of the Omicron variant.
Inclusion North has made an easy read newsletter and a video about this.
From 20 January 2022 the government relaxed some of the Plan B rules.
This is because the number of cases of Omicron was starting to go down.
You can read the latest rules here
Plan B is part of the government’s Covid Autumn and Winter Plan 2021.
Read the updated Autumn and Winter Covid Plan 2021
Read the easy read version of the Autumn and Winter Plan 2021
The NHS is also offering new antibody and antiviral treatments to people with coronavirus (Covid 19) who are at the highest risk of becoming seriously ill.
Read the easy read letter to patients about treatment here
There is a list of health conditions that mean people will be offered treatment if they catch Covid.
Your doctor or specialist will tell you if you can have this treatment.
Find out more about treatment for Covid and who can have it
The Down’s Syndrome Association is regularly updating their web pages about treatment for people with Down’s.
The NHS has said it is very important that people have the booster as soon as possible.
Here is some more information, and some resources that might help:
Vaccination and reasonable adjustments (Mencap)
Information in different languages including easy read and videos
The Covid vaccine and Human Rights (BIHR)
The Covid-19 Vaccine and Human Rights: A short guide for staff working in public bodies (BIHR)
If you can’t find the information you need and your GP can’t help, these organisations have telephone helplines:
Challenging Behaviour Foundation Family Support Line: 0300 666 0126
Mencap learning disability helpline: 0808 808 1111
Other vaccine information and resources:
General Covid-19 vaccine guidance
What happens during and after my vaccination?
Information for paid supporters:
A guide for paid supporters preparing with people for Covid-19 vaccination
Resources to help paid supporters prepare for Covid-19 vaccinations
Archive Library
Road Map out of lockdown 2021
On February 22 2021, the government came out with a roadmap of how we will come out of lockdown.
This is a plan of 4 steps, explaining how we will see restrictions start to lift and a return to normal life.
The Prime Minister has just announced that restrictions that were expected to be lifted on June 21st (step 4) will now happen on July 19th read more here.
Inclusion North have made an easy read about this update that you can see here.
You can see the full government roadmap here
Here is a video from NWTDT explaining the roadmap.
Here is an Easy-read guide on the government’s 4-step plan out of lockdown from Cornwall People First
Here are more details on the changes that will happen on each date:
How can I stay connected?
We know how important it is for us all to stay in touch, have fun and stay busy and active during COVID-19.
Here are some ideas and activities from our members and partners that you can join in.
There are also some guides to help you get online using technology.
We would love to hear about your events and activities so we can share them on this page.
You can contact us by email: comms.team@LDEngland.org.uk or by phone: 0300 111 0444
What Self Advocacy groups are doing (PDF link)
