Learning Disability Week 2024: challenge barriers and improve lives

It’s Learning Disability Week in the UK and the theme for this year is ‘Do you see me?’, which aims to challenge the barriers people with a learning disability face and ensure they are seen, heard and valued.

Running each year during the third week of June (17^th – 23^rd June 2024), Learning Disability Week is organised by leading national charity Mencap.

Mencap say that they want the annual awareness week to help “celebrate the things people with a learning disability bring to society,” and they are organising a range of different topics under the theme of ‘Do you see me?’ to focus on during the week. These are:

• Monday 17^th June: “Do you see me?”
• Tuesday 18^th June: “Do you understand me?”
• Wednesday 19^th June: “Will you work with me?”
• Thursday 20^th June: “Do you hear me?”
• Friday 21^st June: “Do you include me?”
• Saturday 22^nd June: “Will you support me?”
• Sunday 23^rd June: A summary of the week

These focus topics are important, as people with a learning disability simply want to be seen, heard and valued. In fact, the theme for Learning Disability Week was developed by people with a learning disability in order to “build a movement of change.”

Calling for change this Learning Disability Week

In their 2024 Manifesto, Mencap are calling for all political parties to address how they will help to improve the lives of people with a learning disability if they are elected.

They are calling for changes to be made to ensure that people with a learning disability are recognised as valuable members of society, and to improve key statistics they have quoted, such as:

• Only just over a quarter (26.7%) of adults with a learning disability are employed, yet 86% of unemployed people with a learning disability want a paid job
• 1 in 3 people with a learning disability spend less than 1 hour outside their home on a typical Saturday
• Over 2,000 people with a learning disability and/or autistic people are currently locked away in mental health hospitals, and the average length of detention is almost 5 years. Earlier this year, Mencap highlighted the fact that over half a billion pounds is spent each year on detaining people with a learning disability and/or autistic people in mental health hospitals in England. In April, they also reported that the government had failed to hit their target of halving the number of people with a learning disability and autistic people in mental health hospitals.

In their introduction to the Mencap Manifesto, Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, Chair of Mencap, and Ismail Kaji, Parliamentary and Government Engagement Officer, said:

“The next UK government must put people with a learning disability at the heart of their plans for change.

“The inequalities are recognised, the barriers and problems have been identified, and many of the solutions are known. It is for the next UK government to work with people with a learning disability, their supporters and organisations, to deliver change.”

They also called on people with a learning disability and their loved ones to “utilise this manifesto in their own way,” adding:

“Please speak out – conversations with politicians can lead to great things and people with a learning disability should be heard so that the future can be brighter. Everyone stands to benefit.”

Calls to action from the 2024 Mencap Manifesto

The Manifesto asks for action on 6 key areas:

1. Social Care – Mencap says the next UK government must commit to fixing social care as a priority. They want immediate additional funding to stabilise the sector and a long-term funding plan. They also want social care charging for working-aged disabled adults (the Minimum Income Guarantee charging and Disability Related Expenditure) to be removed, a minimum salary for social care workers to be introduced and the development of a National Workforce Strategy for the social care sector.
2. Homes not Hospitals – The charity wants real action to reduce the number of people with a learning disability and/or autistic people in mental health hospitals. They are calling for the next UK government to reform the Mental Health Act, ensuring that people cannot be detained in mental health hospitals solely on the basis of having a learning disability or autism without a co-occurring mental health condition. They also want investment in community support to stop the inappropriate detention of people with a learning disability and autistic people. They also want the Building the Right Support Action Plan and associated national target to be updated and strengthened.
3. Healthcare – The manifesto includes actions to remove the barriers people with a learning disability face when accessing healthcare. It calls for the next government to work with NHS England to increase the number of people with a learning disability on the learning disability register, ensuring more people receive an annual health check and a health action plan. They also want adequate resources, both nationally and locally, to ensure the successful rollout of initiatives designed to combat health inequality for people with a learning disability, including the Reasonable Adjustment Flag and the revised Accessible Information Standard. The government must also implement the recommendations of the Race Observatory, Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) and Learning from Lives and Deaths of People with a Learning Disability (LeDeR) report to tackle avoidable deaths. Mencap is also asking for more learning disability nurses working across the NHS and a commitment to funding the rollout of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Learning Disability and Autism training across the health and social care sector.
4. Employment – Mencap wants people with a learning disability to receive the right support to access and stay in work. They are calling for the next government to launch a new supported employment programme for people with a learning disability without an Education, Health and Care Plan. They also want long-term funding for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, for people with a learning disability to be removed from the benefit sanctions regime and a review to be undertaken of the adequacy of current benefits.
5. Cost of Living – People with a learning disability have been disproportionately impacted by the current cost of living crisis in the UK. To combat this, the Mencap Manifesto is asking for targeted energy support for people with a learning disability. They propose this can be provided through reversing changes to the Warm Home Discount Scheme to ensure it once again includes people in receipt of disability benefits. It also asks for a mandatory, progressively funded energy social tariff for disabled people and their carers, long-term funding for the Household Support Fund and the introduction of a universal Priority Services Register across essential services. They also want people with a learning disability to have equitable access to financial services.
6. Bullying – The charity says that more needs to be done to ensure that people with a learning disability are safe and can live their lives without fear of bullying or being subject to hate crimes. They want the next UK government to support Ofcom on the implementation of the Online Safety Act and support an awareness campaign to highlight the new regulations. They also want them to implement recommendation 114(h) of the 2016 UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People Committee Inquiry report on tackling prejudice and negative attitudes towards disabled people. Finally, the manifesto calls for hate crime laws to be reformed in line with the Law Commission’s recommendations.

In relation to devolved issues, Mencap says they believe “it is important for political parties across the whole of the UK to listen to the voices of people with a learning disability and their family carers.”

Get involved with Learning Disability Week

Individuals and organisations can get involved with Learning Disability Week by campaigning with Mencap, donating to Mencap, downloading and using their free resources – including social media banners, posts and stories, posters and an information pack – and spreading awareness on social media.

Throughout Learning Disability Week, you can share posts talking about and celebrating the things that people with a learning disability are doing in your community.

Mencap also have videos to help raise awareness and celebrate people with a learning disability, including a Mencap Myth Buster and a video about Being Seen, centring on Ellie Goldstein, the first British Vogue cover model with Down’s Syndrome.

Training to support specialist needs

First Response Training (FRT) is a leading, national training provider.

They deliver over 7,000 courses each year in the fields of health and safety, first aid, fire safety, food safety, mental health, health and social care and other special focus topics.

Their diverse portfolio includes training awards designed for care workers, such as Learning Disability Awareness, Understanding Autism, Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training, Positive Behaviour Support, Safeguarding Adults, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Person Centred Care and Support and many others.

Their course portfolio spans Care Certificate standards, mandatory training awards, clinical skills, special focus courses and training for supervisors and managers.

A trainer from FRT says:

“Learning Disability Week is an important annual campaign that helps to raise awareness of the challenges and barriers that people with a learning disability face while living in the UK. It highlights where we are failing and where things really need to change. There are nearly one million adults living with a learning disability in England and they should be able to expect the same high quality, safe and dignified care as anybody else.

“Staff training can be vital to ensuring that care workers are able to communicate effectively with people with learning disabilities and provide compassionate, person centred support that meets their needs.

“We provide a range of training courses for learning disabilities and autism and can also deliver the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training Framework on learning disabilities and autism, which enables NHS providers to meet the mandatory requirement for staff training.”

For more information on the training provided by FRT, please call them on freephone 0800 310 2300 or send an e-mail to info@firstresponsetraining.com.