APPGs are an informal group of members of both Houses of Parliament who join together to pursue a particular topic or interest.  Members of the group will be advocates in parliament, act as ambassadors, and raise awareness of the assistive technology agenda in the UK.

The APPG for Assistive Technology was launched on Monday 6 March by Speaker of the House, Rt Hon John Bercrow and included contributions from Seema Malhotra MP, Lord (Chris) Holmes of Richmond MBE, Hannah Rose – an assistive technology user, and Neil Heslop OBE – Chief Executive of Leonard Cheshire Disability.

The College, which caters for young people with disabilities and additional needs, has extensive research and development expertise specifically related to the users of assistive technology and will be advising the group on education and training.

Paul Doyle, Access Research and Development Manager at Hereward College says:

“We are delighted to be a founder member of the APPG for assistive technology. Using assistive technology effectively is a key element to creating a more inclusive world which enables people to participate fully in education, employment, live more independent lives and play a valuable role in society.”

More information about Hereward College can be found at www.hereward.ac.uk.

Nystagmus is an eye movement disorder where the eyes wobble uncontrollably, leading to significant visual impairment. If nystagmus develops early in life, the brain often adapts to the eye movements but for those who develop the condition after infancy, the effects are debilitating. To them the world is in constant motion as their eyes move erratically, this symptom is called oscillopsia. Individuals who have a stroke, multiple sclerosis or brain injury may develop nystagmus and oscillopsia.

It is difficult for those without nystagmus to appreciate the condition; a comment often made by those who suffer with nystagmus. A collaboration between Medical Physics and the Academic Unit of Ophthalmology and Orthoptics at the University of Sheffield sought to help others understand nystagmus and the difficulties of living with it. A 6-month project funded by Sheffield Hospitals Charity produced a virtual reality smartphone app which simulated the effects of having acquired nystagmus.

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The app uses real eye tracking data from nystagmus patients, obtained with state of the art equipment, to deliver an authentic experience of the condition. The app can be viewed on most modern smartphones but to achieve a first-hand experience requires a virtual reality headset, in which the smartphone can be inserted. Virtual reality immerses the user in a virtual 3D world which can be explored using natural head movements. The nystagmus eye movements are imposed onto each eye to provide the wearer of the headset with a realistic, evocative experience and hence a greater appreciation of the condition.

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The app has been positively received from a wide range of people.

Healthy individuals exposed to the condition for the first time stated: “I couldn’t live like that!”

A parent of a daughter with nystagmus when attending a showcase event declared: “Wow! We came along today to use the headset as my 4-year-old daughter has Nystagmus. It was amazing to be able to see how people with Nystagmus see. I have to say that I felt quite ill using it. People with Nystagmus are truly amazing! I feel very fortunate that we got the opportunity to use this and to speak to the people involved. Truly amazing. Thank you.”

A nystagmus sufferer commented: “Fantastic, should be available for all to see”

The app aims to raise awareness and help individuals with nystagmus to communicate their condition. We hope it is useful to occupational therapists working with these individuals and enables them to better understand the impact of the disorder.

The app is available as a free download for both Android and iPhone. Please search the relevant app store for ‘Nystagmus Oscillopsia Sim VR’. If you would like any further information please contact David Randall, drandall1@Sheffield.ac.uk.

Have your say – see what others said about plans to change parliamentary constituencies and tell the Boundary Commission for England what you think!

The Boundary Commission for England needs your help once again as it begins the next step of its 2018 Boundary Review – the second consultation.

Parliament has asked the Commission, an independent and impartial public organisation, to review all the constituency boundaries in England, reducing the total number and making each constituency an equal size. This is a big job and the Commission can’t do it without your help.

Last year, the Commission ran a consultation asking you, the public, to look at its proposed changes and tell them what you thought – did the proposed boundaries reflect your local community? For instance, were the local places that are important to you, such as where you go to meet friends, play sports or attend clubs, in the same constituency as where you live? Nearly 20,000 responses were received – you may even have had your say.

The Commission has now started the next phase of the review and today it launched its second consultation.

This is your chance to get involved once again, but this time around it’s slightly different. The Commission has published all the responses it received in the first consultation and is asking you to look and comment on these – telling them what you do and don’t like about other people’s ideas. Again ask yourself do other people’s suggestions reflect my local community?

You have until Monday 27 March to go online and get involved. Visit www.bce2018.org.uk to view the responses from the last consultation and add your comments. You can also see the initial proposals here and see how your local area could be affected. Finally, don’t forget to follow @BCE2018 for the latest updates.

So now it’s over to you – go online to have your say and help shape the new Parliamentary constituencies in England!

National disability charity responds to new findings from the Centre for Social Justice, and calls for the Government to actively work with employers to promote disabled people.

New polling from the Centre for Social Justice showed that two thirds (63 per cent) of HR decision makers think there are barriers to hiring disabled people, and that only a third (33 per cent) have hired a person with a disability or mental health condition in the last year.

In response to these findings, the national disability charity, Sense, who’s Realising Aspirations for All report looks at the key issue of disability employment, calls on the Government to do more to work with employers and promote disabled people as valuable employees.

Kate Fitch, Head of Policy and Campaign, said:

“The Centre for Social Justice’s polling once again highlights the scale of the challenges facing disabled people as they look to secure and remain in employment.

Disabled people face many barriers to work, including negative employer attitudes, with employers failing to make essential adjustments needed for disabled people to perform their roles successfully, isolation in the workplace, a lack of career progression, and concerning issues with receiving the right support from Access to Work.

We are supportive of the Government’s focus on improving access to employment for disabled people, and welcome the Improving Lives: Work, Health and Disability Green Paper.

Many disabled people want to be in employment, and Sense has been working with the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure that their voices are heard directly by government.

However, this polling shows that there is clearly still a great deal to do when it comes to employer attitudes. Sense is calling on the Government to work with businesses across the country to make the positive case for disabled people as valuable employees.

We want to see the Government develop and implement a coordinated campaign to raise employers’ awareness of the abilities and potential of disabled people, including those with complex needs.”

For more information www.sense.org.uk.

Charities Relate, Relationships Scotland and Mencap call for increased support for families

Parents who have a child with a learning disability are facing unnecessary pressures on their relationships. This is according to a new report, which finds that one in three of these parents is in a relationship which would be described in the counselling room as ‘distressed’ (compared to one in four parents in the general population)*. The research also found that parents who have a child with a learning disability are more likely to feel lonely, have less time for date nights and identify money worries as a strain on their relationship.

The report, Under pressure: the relationships of UK parents who have a child with a learning disability, was produced by leading relationships charities Relate and Relationships Scotland and is sponsored by learning disability charity, Mencap. Over 5,000 people were questioned in the survey that forms the basis of the report, including 280 parents of a child with a learning disability. 

In response to these findings, Relate, Relationships Scotland and Mencap have joined forces to call for better access to short breaks services, improved childcare support for parents of children with a learning disability and targeted relationship support. The charities say that, together, these measures would reduce the strains on parents’ relationships and ensure families can enjoy the positives that having a child with a learning disability brings.

Key findings in the research highlighted:

Top relationship strains, such as the lack of quality time parents of a child with a learning disability have available for one another. Nearly a quarter (24 per cent) only find time for a date night once a year or less, compared to less than a fifth (17%) of other parents. Finances were also a factor: four in ten (39 per cent) parents of a child with a learning disability identified money worries as a strain on their relationship – compared to 29 per cent of other parents. Mental health was the second biggest relationship strain, with one in four (24 per cent) identifying this as an issue – more than twice as many as other parents.  As a likely result of these pressures, 22 per cent of these parents reported at least occasionally regretting being in their relationship, compared to 14 per cent of parents in the general population.

On top of the relationship issues, feelings of loneliness and poor overall wellbeing.  More than one in five (22 per cent) parents of a child with a learning disability feel lonely often or all the time – compared to 13 per cent of other parents. One in six parents of children with a learning disability has no close friends. Parents of children with a learning disability are almost twice as likely to feel down, depressed or hopeless often or all the time (27 per cent compared to only 14 per cent of other parents).

Parents of a child with a learning disability were also more likely to agree that all relationships come under pressure from time to time and everyone could benefit from support with their relationships (64 per cent agreed compared to 53 per cent of parents without a child with a learning disability).

Chris Sherwood, Chief Executive of Relate, said:

“We all face challenges in our relationships, but our research shows that parents who have a child with a learning disability face additional pressures. Unhappy relationships can have a terrible impact on couples and their children but it doesn’t have to be this way. At Relate, we know how counselling can benefit parents of children with a learning disability and we need to make sure it’s available, as part of a wider package of support, to families who need it.”

Jan Tregelles, Chief Executive of Mencap, said:

“It is upsetting – but not surprising – to hear about the relationship pressures faced by parents of children with a learning disability, especially as Mencap’s own research** shows these strains are avoidable.

“Having a child with a learning disability is not the guarantee of hardship that many would have us believe. Despite this, many families are living without access to necessary support and interventions which can be the difference in a family reaching breaking point or not.

“As a society, we have a lot to learn about how to deal with disability. Public attitudes can lead to parents feeling isolated and authorities too often see the child as the problem. But we know that if parents are able to get the right help, such as financial support and better access to short breaks and extra childcare, poorer family wellbeing is not inevitable, and, in fact, these families’ relationships can really flourish.”

Ramya Kumar, 38 and from Swindon, whose nine-year-old son Rishi has autism and a related learning disability, said:

“Caring for my son has in many ways taken over my life. Caring can sometimes be 24/7 and I’ve felt like, in some ways, I’ve forgotten how to be a wife to my husband. We rarely get to go for meals as a couple and can sometimes feel isolated from society due to the attitudes of other parents to disability. But, we wouldn’t change anything about Rishi. He’s given me the priceless gift of perspective and has made me a better and stronger person.”

“Many of the challenges we face can be solved by having the right support from local authorities and acceptance from the public. Rishi gets respite care for four hours a month. We’re lucky that our local community nurse has been a pillar of strength. Her support has made a huge difference to our lives. Our major worry at the moment is about Rishi’s future and making sure he gets to be fully part of his community – it’s created a great divide in opinion between my husband and I. But nothing can replace the boundless love and joy that Rishi has given us. If we had known about the support available and if it had been there from the start, some of these challenges could have been avoided.”

Over his eight years on the Board, including the past three as Chair, Stephen oversaw a period of rapid growth at Action on Hearing Loss, including expansion of its community based services and a doubling of its biomedical research programme.

Stephen stepped down in late 2016 to become the new chair of Alzheimer’s Society.

Paul Breckell, Action on Hearing Loss Chief Executive said:

“I’m delighted that Stephen has had this richly deserved honour for services to people with hearing loss. It is a fitting end to his successful tenure as Chair of Action on Hearing Loss, who are now directly supporting over 100,000 people every year”.