At the London Learning Disability England (LDE) conference on 14 February, three people represented our organisation. They were Simon Tobin, Co-chair of Unity and Autism Trainer & Ambassador, Mary Woodall, Co-chair of Unity and Campaign 4 Change member, and Elmi Terjavjainen, Co-production Manager.
Mary was one of the chairs of the conference in her capacity as a member of the Representative Body of LDE. Accordingly, she introduced the conference, welcomed the speakers and also ended the day.
Workshops and speakers
The programme was full of interesting workshops and speakers focusing on a range of different topics around politics and policy. Simon said: “The event was interesting, inspiring and informative. I especially enjoyed the workshop on influencing politics and policy nationally. They asked us what we would change if we were the Prime Minister.”
Mary said: “The conference was fun. I enjoyed the workshop on how people can get involved in politics and support the campaign for accessible voting. The campaign is My Vote My Voice.”
Good Lives manifesto
Our self-advocacy group Campaign 4 Change also took part in shaping the Good Lives manifesto, alongside other Learning Disability England members. This is a set of expectations of people with learning disabilities, their families and professionals for the future government, in order for people to have a good life. Campaign 4 Change thought it especially important to also include people with profound and multiple learning disabilities in the manifesto. It would help to ensure that people with learning disabilities are not stuck in mental health institutions and are not overmedicated with psychotropic medicines.
This month, our internal self-advocacy group Unity is promoting the Wheel of Engagement theme ‘Being part of the community’. Specifically, it focuses on people’s right and knowledge to vote. We are sharing resources across the organisation to make sure that people we support are registered to vote, understand the voting process and have their say in the upcoming elections.
