£156,000 awarded by the Big Lottery Fund and European Social Fund The statistics speak for themselves – around 6 per cent of people with a learning disability are in paid employment, despite more than 60 per cent wanting and being able to be in work. Those figures come from Mencap, looking at the picture across the UK. Across Warwickshire and ... Read More »
Just 3 out of 23 sports open to athletes with a learning disability – Mencap petition calls for more events to be opened up. 8% of medals (12 out of 147) won by Team GB at the Paralympics were won by athletes with a learning disability, despite them making up just 3% of the overall Team GB. This success adds ... Read More »
On July 17, over 170 people from across the UK climbed London’s famous ‘Walkie Talkie’ skyscraper to raise money to help people with a learning disability get in to the world of work. Runners climbed the 828 steps of the landmark, otherwise known as 20 Fenchurch Street, to reach the exclusive Sky Garden, Europe’s highest roof garden, where they were ... Read More »
The Crown Prosecution Service today released figures showing the number of prosecutions for hate crimes against disabled people has risen by 41.3% in the last year. Mencap issue the below statement highlighting the need for everyone in the criminal justice system to take disability hate crime seriously and apply the full strength of the law. Dan Scorer, Head of Policy ... Read More »
People with a learning disability and their families from Wirral have been invited to attend a number of FREE events organised by Wirral Mencap to mark Learning Disability Week 2016 (20–26 June). The week is designed to help break down the barriers people with a learning disability can face when developing relationships. The events include a drop-in lunch, a ‘Crafternoon ... Read More »
Three small disability charities have won a Lloyds Bank Foundation National Charity Achievement Awards. They were recognised for the inspirational and ground-breaking work they do. Cornwall People First (CPF) impressed the judges for having transformed the way people with learning disabilities communicate with authorities about issues that matter to them. They have worked with local services on awareness-raising events like ... Read More »
Lego is a toy brand adored by millions of children and adults across the world. However they have created a new toy called Turg and have described it as a ‘window licker’. This term is highly offensive to people who have a learning disability and the making of the toy has been described as ‘an experiment that’s gone very very ... Read More »
Young people with a learning disability gathered together at the Oh Yeah Centre in Belfast on Tuesday 24th March to ask a panel of local candidates questions about the issues that matter to them. The event, which is part of Mencap’s Hear My Voice campaign, was organised by 16 young people with a learning disability from Belfast and Omagh. The ... Read More »
Petitions with almost 300,000 signatures delivered to Number 10 Downing Street and parliament yesterday. Yesterday, five parents whose children with a learning disability are, or have been, stuck in assessment and treatment units, delivered their collective petitions to Number 10 Downing Street and to the Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition, calling on whoever forms the next ... Read More »
The Work and Pensions Select Committee published a report this week, Tuesday 23 March, calling for a full independent review of benefit sanctions. In the report Dame Anne Begg MP highlights many failings and that the system must “be capable of identifying and protecting vulnerable people, including those with… learning disabilities” James Bolton, policy officer for Mencap and co-chair of ... Read More »
Ministers have failed to honour a pledge to move patients with learning difficulties out of hospitals and into community care, the National Audit Office (NAO) says. There were still 2,600 such inpatients in mental health hospitals in England in September 2014, the NAO said. A commitment to move patients was made in the wake of the Winterbourne View abuse scandal. ... Read More »
A new employment service for people with learning and physical disabilities is to open in Reading. The service, run by learning disability charity Mencap and young job seekers’ support agency Elevate Reading, will start in March. Mencap said less than 10% of people with a learning disability were in paid work and the new service was a “positive step”. The ... Read More »
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