The Learning Disability Coalition (LDC) is a group of fourteen organisations which campaigns to secure better funding for social care for people with learning disabilities in England. [1]
The Coalition was formed in May 2007. [2] It believes that better funding from the UK Government is required to help people with learning disabilities to secure a full range of rights and opportunities. The LDC aims to provide a unified voice for people with learning disabilities to government and other key decision makers; to raise awareness of financial pressures on services, and achieve an evidence-based assessment of the long-term resource requirements for people with learning disabilities.
The organization shut down independent operations to become a "special interest group" within the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group in 2012. [3]
In 2010 the LDC launched its 'Protect the Frontline' campaign which is calling on politicians to keep to their promises and protect frontline services for people with a learning disability. As part of the campaign, the LDC produced 'Stories from the Frontline', [4] which included a series of diaries by people with a learning disability. These diaries helped to show the importance of frontline social care and the difference that it makes to their lives and the lives of their families. The LDC has been monitoring cuts to social care through its cutswatch feature, [5] and since the announcement of the Comprehensive Spending Review, has been calling on local councillors [6] to ensure that social care spending is protected at a local level.
The Coalition's Directors were Heather Honour in 2008 and later Anthea Sully [7] and its Co-Chairs were Andrew Lee, Director of People First and Mark Goldring, Chief Executive of Mencap.
Makaton is a communication tool with speech, signs, and symbols to enable people with disabilities or learning disabilities to communicate. Makaton supports the development of essential communication skills such as attention, listening, comprehension, memory and expressive speech and language. The Makaton language programme has been used with individuals who have cognitive impairments, autism, Down syndrome, specific language impairment, multisensory impairment and acquired neurological disorders that have negatively affected the ability to communicate, including stroke and dementia patients.
Brian Norman Roger Rix, Baron Rix, was an English actor-manager, who produced a record-breaking sequence of long-running farces on the London stage, including Dry Rot, Simple Spymen and One for the Pot. His one-night TV shows made him the joint-highest paid star on the BBC. He often worked with his wife Elspet Gray and sister Sheila Mercier, who became the matriarch in Emmerdale Farm.
Developmental disability is a diverse group of chronic conditions, comprising mental or physical impairments that arise before adulthood. Developmental disabilities cause individuals living with them many difficulties in certain areas of life, especially in "language, mobility, learning, self-help, and independent living". Developmental disabilities can be detected early on and persist throughout an individual's lifespan. Developmental disability that affects all areas of a child's development is sometimes referred to as global developmental delay.
The Royal Mencap Society is a charity based in the United Kingdom that works with people with learning disabilities.
Self-advocacy is the act of speaking up for oneself and one's interests. It is used as a name for civil rights movements and mutual aid networks for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The term arose in the broader civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s, and is part of the disability rights movement. Today there are self-advocacy organizations across the world.
Dame Josephine Williams is a British administrator and social worker who was the chief executive of Mencap until 1 November 2008. She chaired the Care Quality Commission between 2010 and 2012.
Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability, and formerly mental retardation, is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant impairment in intellectual and adaptive functioning that is first apparent during childhood. Children with intellectual disabilities typically have an intelligence quotient (IQ) below 70 and deficits in at least two adaptive behaviors that affect everyday living. According to the DSM-5, intellectual functions include reasoning, problem solving, planning, abstract thinking, judgment, academic learning, and learning from experience. Deficits in these functions must be confirmed by clinical evaluation and individualized standard IQ testing. On the other hand, adaptive behaviors include the social, developmental, and practical skills people learn to perform tasks in their everyday lives. Deficits in adaptive functioning often compromises an individual's independence and ability to meet their social responsibility.
United Response is a charity operating in England and Wales, providing a range of support and services for around 2,000 people with learning disabilities, mental health needs, or physical disabilities.
ARC Association for Real Change is a UK membership organisation, which supports providers of services to people with a learning disability.
Judy Fryd was a British campaigner for mentally disabled children and the founder of The National Association of Parents of Backward Children, now Mencap. Throughout her life, she worked to increase awareness of learning disabilities and greater consideration for learning disabled individuals. Through the founding of her charity, she cemented this ethos, with the movement for greater aid to be given to those with learning disabilities continuing through the work of Mencap.
Disability abuse is when a person with a disability is abused physically, financially, sexually and/or psychologically due to the person having a disability. This type of abuse has also been considered a hate crime. The abuse is not limited to those who are visibly disabled or physically deformed, but also includes those with learning, intellectual and developmental disabilities or mental illnesses.
Kate Griggs is a British social entrepreneur best known for her work in the field of dyslexia. She is the founder of the dyslexia charitable organisation, Xtraordinary People. Her public speaking has ranged from the Conservative Party Conference to appearances on television and radio.
Heavy Load were an English punk rock band, described by The Sunday Times in 2009 as "possibly the most genuinely punk band touring today".
The Winterbourne View hospital inquiry occurred at Winterbourne View, a private hospital at Hambrook, South Gloucestershire, England, owned and operated by Castlebeck. A Panorama investigation, broadcast on television in 2011, exposed the physical and psychological abuse suffered by people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour at the hospital.
For many elderly carers of a relative who has a learning or other disability, future planning is an issue. The population of older parents who have children with a learning disability is growing and many of their children are likely to outlive them. In many cases the caring role can span up to seven decades, ending only with their death. Governments and other service providers cannot ignore the pressing needs of this population and their parent and sibling carers. In most countries, family carers provide inexpensive care for a person with a learning disability and other disabilities. This trend is set to continue in England. Demographic changes and the health needs of these two growing populations must be considered against government policy constraints and limited in-home and external care options in order to avoid a crisis. The consequences of not supporting these family carers will lead to crisis management, increase in distress and care giving burdens, and increased spending on unsuitable crisis placements. Housing and financial guidance are issues for caregivers.
The Care Act 2014 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that received royal assent on 14 May 2014, after being introduced on 9 May 2013. The main purpose of the act was to overhaul the existing 60-year-old legislation regarding social care in England. The Care Act 2014 sets out in one place, local authorities’ duties in relation to assessing people's needs and their eligibility for publicly funded care and support.
FS Me is a typeface/font that has been described as the first to have been designed in consultation with a group of people with learning disabilities and designed for use by this population. It was developed by Jason Smith in response to a commission from the charity Mencap in 2008. It was the only font featured in the D&AD Annual 2009 covering advertising and design work.
Mate crime is a form of crime in which a perpetrator befriends a vulnerable person with the intention of then exploiting the person financially, physically or sexually. "Mate" crime perpetrators take advantage of the isolation and vulnerability of their victim to win their confidence. Research has highlighted common factors in mate crime and hate crime.
Innovate Trust is an independent charity registered in the UK. based in Cardiff operating across South East Wales. Innovate Trust provides supported living services to adults with learning disabilities, mental health conditions, physical disabilities or sensory impairments in Cardiff, the Vale of Glamorgan and Rhondda Cynon Taff.
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