Louder Voice - Empowering Self-Advocates and Families for Change

1. Presentation title Louder Voice

2. Who are we? Gary Bourlet Learning Disability England team member Gary has been in the Self-Advocacy movement for over 33 years and helped bring the People First Movementto England. From this he went on to become co-founder of Learning Disability England. Wendy Burt Family representative to Learning Disability England and Family Consultant for Dimensions Mum to 2 sons who both have a learning disability and autism. Wendy is passionate about people with learning disabilities and their families having great lives in their community, and has spent the last two decades working to make this happen. Liz Wilson Lead Family Consultant for Dimensions Has a daughter and brother with learning disabilities. Believes that including everyone in mainstream society is the right thing to do and that person centred working makes this possible. Determined that people with learning disabilities and autism and their families should know their rights and have the skills and support they need to live as a full citizens.

3. Louder Voice program Why? • We think it is wrong that campaigns for equality and change are usually led by professionals • We believe that real change cannot be achieved without the full involvement of disabled people and their families. • We know that it is hard for ordinary people to have their voices heard by those with the power to make change happen. • We have seen a small number of people with learning disabilities and families have a big influence. • We developed the Louder Voice program to help more families and self advocates get the information and skills they need to work together for change.

4. Louder Voice How did it work? • It was funded in partnership with Learning Disability England, Choice Support and Dimensions • Self advocates and family carers developed and delivered the program • The course ran over six days • We learned about each others lives and struggles • We developed our ideas and practised speaking up about our issues • Listening and learning together strengthened our relationships

5. Louder Voice What did we do? • We looked at human rights – these rights belong to everyone! • We talked about how to support people with learning disabilities to know about their rights • We looked at how to use this knowledge to get a good life • We learned about British legislation that is important to disabled people • The Care Act • The Mental Capacity Act • The Disability Discrimination act

6. Louder Voice What did we do? • We learned about the British constitution and Local Government because: • When you know how the system works you can ask the right people for help • You can use the system to your advantage • You can use your time wisely and speed up the process of change • We worked with journalists to learn: • How the media works • How to get our stories into the news • How to make our message clear • How to present ourselves on television

7. Louder Voice What did we do? • We looked at successful campaigns that have led to change for people with learning disabilities, for example: • #I’mwithSam - led by Dr. Mark Brooks, a man with learning disabilities who is determined to end hate crime • #MyGPandme employing Jordan Smith to train and influence doctors in general practice to give a better service to people with learning disabilities • #rightfullives - led by families and keeps the attention of professionals on the rights of people with learning disabilities and autism, especially those detained under the Mental Health Act • #JusticeforLB campaign – which Sara Ryan can tell you all about

8. Belonging • The theme of this conference is belonging. • We believe that everyone belongs as an equal member of society. • We know that when people are visible in society it is harder to take their rights away. • Disabled people who belong to their local community are happier and safer than those who are isolated. • Belonging brings respect. • We are working to create a world where everyone shares our beliefs about belonging and equality.

9. Stronger Together • It takes time and effort to develop a good working relationships between families and self advocates. We have learned some things that help: • Making conversations accessible to all is important, helpful tools include: • Graphic facilitation • Talking mats • Sign language and interpreters • Families have to learn to listen patiently • Families are sometimes over-protective • When self-advocates and families listen to each other with respect, we learn and change • It is ok to have different points of view • We work together to change the things we agree about

10. Stronger Together • It takes time and effort to develop a good working relationships between families and self advocates. We have learned some things that help: • Making conversations accessible to all is important, helpful tools include: • Graphic facilitation • Talking mats • Sign language and interpreters • Working together takes extra time • Sometimes we talk about issues in small groups to give the quiet peole a better chance to talk • We work together on the issues we agree about • We build consensus by listening, learning more and voting on our priorities • Because there is a power inbalance between self advocates and families we often give the self advocates more votes • Families have to learn to listen patiently.

11. Recommendations • Working together has changed our attitudes to each other • We know we have shared goals • Parents have learned to step back and let people speak for themselves • It is possible to work together on issues we agree upon, we don’t need to get stuck on our differences. • Families and self advocates should have more opportunities to work together in this way. • We think it helped that the parents and people with learning disabilities in this group were not related to each other. • We would like others to work together in this way.