Admin To mark Learning Disability Week 2021, Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Stoke-on-Trent Clinical Commissioning Group launched ‘Living My Best Life’, an exciting new strategy, co-produced with people with learning disabilities, families and carers.
Living My Best Life is based around achieving five outcomes, all of which came from conversations with adults with learning disabilities. The strategy’s vision is that people with learning disabilities will be able to say “I feel safe. I am healthy. I achieve my goals. I love where I live. I enjoy my life.”
You can download Living My Best Life here: https://www.stoke.gov.uk/downloads/download/891/learning_disabilities_strategy
Alternatively, you can download the ‘Easy read’ strategy summary, written by Reach and also launched last week, here: https://equalpeopleinstoke.org/home/learning-disability-fortnight-2021/
Each day last week, as part of the launch of Living My Best Life, Reach, an independent self-advocacy project and part of Asist (Advocacy Services in Staffordshire) wrote a blog about one of the strategy’s five outcomes, using ideas and experiences people have shared as part of the strategy development work, and in other discussions over the years.
Today as Learning Disability Pride gets going, we’re writing about the last of our blogs about the big ideas or cross-cutting themes that are important to making sure people with learning disabilities get the right support and services.
Today, we are writing about people with learning disabilities who are parents or carers getting the support they need.
Living My Best Life states there is no way of knowing how many people there are in Stoke-on-Trent with a learning disability, and how many of them are parents or carers, but the number is probably growing.
Also, there are some people who have never been diagnosed as having a learning disability but might need extra support with caring for children and other family members. The strategy says ensuring there is more support for people with learning disabilities who are caring for children and young people, or their own parents is vital.
People with learning disabilities agree.
“They need do all this. But I don’t know if it’ll really happen, all this extra support for people.”
“It’s really important for parents to get support.”
“Give people a chance to bring up their babies then, give them the support they need to actually do this, instead of always taking their babies off them! It’s not fair how they do that, if they want us to have the same choices, give us the support so we can have the same choices!”
“Support the family, give them help, the diagnosis will come [later], if people need help, HELP THEM!”
“I agree with the bit about being diagnosed, if it stops people getting the right support and services, they shouldn’t focus just on that.”
“This is important. People need the support.”
Thank you for reading and sharing these blogs. For the rest of Learning Disability Pride Week, Reach will be using Facebook and Twitter to share quotes from meetings held this week where we ask people what makes them proud. One person talked about his new role and how important it is. “I’ve been looking after my mum since she came out of hospital. It makes me feel really good, really proud, doing that for her.”
