Speaking out
"Working makes me feel more important. I feel better and calmer in my own life. It helps me to be meeting people. I’m being something that I’ve always wanted to be."
As a registered national charity, our mission is to support people to take control of their lives and our vision is of a world where people with learning disabilities or mental health needs have the same rights and opportunities as everyone else.
And we believe this means that we have a duty to speak up and speak out, together with people we support, to raise awareness of the issues affecting them, to change policy and practice for the better and to provide additional practical support that helps people to live the life they choose.
Through our campaigning work, we try to change the world by changing and challenging attitudes, whether this is raising awareness of the issues faced, tackling prejudice or challenging unfair laws or lack of funding. Putting the people who use our services, and those who are important to them, at the heart of our campaigns is a major and increasing priority for us. A person's own story is far more powerful than anything we could say on their behalf.
Employment campaign
We are currently running an employment campaign. Although two thirds of people with learning disabilities would like to work, less than one in ten do. But we know from our study carried out, at our Trafford Employment Service, that the benefits of work, for many people with learning disabilities, are considerable, including increased confidence, independence, self-esteem and well-being. Feedback from businesses themselves found people with learning disabilities to be excellent employees and most importantly, the impact on people's lives speaks for itself.
That's why we want to work with both businesses and the government to help more people with learning disabilities into real work - and are lobbying the government to reform the benefits system to make it easier for people to work without losing out financially. Our work has included the launch of our report Being something I have always wanted to be to policy makers including Third Sector Minister Phil Hope MP (now Adult Social Care Minister following the recent cabinet reshuffle), and hosting fringe events with Citizens Advice at the political party conferences this autumn.
Learning Disability Coalition
Another important aspect of our campaigning has been our role in the Learning Disability Coalition, a new body founded by ten organisations supporting people with learning disabilities to look specifically at funding issues. The Learning Disability Coalition's focus is persuading government to continue to fund the support we provide to individuals by showcasing the many achievements people are able to make with the right services behind them: whether that's finding a job, living independently or getting involved in the community. We have played a major role in parliamentary events with the Coalition, attended by senior politicians such as former Social Care Minister Ivan Lewis MP. We have also helped place major articles on the future of funding on BBC News and in The Guardian.
We have campaigned to ensure people with learning disabilities get fair access to healthcare, writing in national newspapers about the publication of Healthcare for All, an independent inquiry that found that people with learning disabilities have higher levels of unmet needs and receive less effective treatment than others. As Su Sayer, our chief executive, wrote at the time, "It is unacceptable that someone should find it harder to get good healthcare because they have a learning disability. This report, along with the others that went before it, highlighting poor practice and unequal treatment, presents indisputable evidence of the need for change in the NHS. What we need now is action."
Other campaigns
But, of course, our campaigning doesn't stop there. We will be launching a major campaign in late 2008 dedicated to giving people with learning disabilities real financial independence, by making financial information far more accessible, as well as continuing to show the world the many achievements of the people we support.
We hope you will join us in this very important aspect of our work by sharing with us the things that matter to you and to your family, and speaking out alongside us.