Question Time

Being Healthy We know people with a learning disability have been dying before they should because they often get rubbish support from health services. We know that people see our learning disability first and that gets in the way of us getting the decisions and the treatment that everyone else gets. That MUST stop and we expect the bosses to help us stop it

Being Healthy We are worried about abuse and so when are you going to stop the Directors of companies in the ‘care sector’ making lots of money from us. Shouldn’t those companies be not for profit to prevent a focus on dividends instead of quality person centred support?

Living Well We know that people want to be as independent as possible to live, work and relax like everyone else does but things get in our way that you can help remove. Attitudes, red tape and your policies and rules interfere with our lives. Rules that services make that get in the way of who we spend time with, if and where we work and who we live with. They are rules that best suit services not us, safeguarding is a word that we think is sometimes used to oppress us.

Living Well How can you ensure you have well- trained, motivated, quality staff who understand part of their job is to help us challenge the red-tape and rules when they interfere with our lives, so that our supports and services are person centred, giving us the choice and control everyone else has? This includes when it comes to sex, children, family life and friends – no one really controls these bits of other people’s lives so why rules for us?

Staying Safe We all know isolation affects how vulnerable people feel; it also affects everyone’s health. The key to being healthy, safe and well are good relationships with people that are not paid to be in our lives – family and friends.

Staying Safe Yesterday at conference we decided to expect YOU to make sure that OUR friends and relationships are taken seriously as YOURS. We will keep asking you how YOU are going to make sure of that every time we meet. What will you do to make sure people are supported to make real friends, stay close to families and are safe in their communities so isolation is something we do not have to worry about?

Our Voices We are worried that our voices will be lost Nationally, Regionally and Locally. We are worried that consultation is not real and that co-production, choice, control, personalisation and patient experience are words that are used when you want us to make a quick comment on what you are doing or when you want to pretend things are getting better.

Our Voices What are you doing to make sure that when you are talking about something that affects people with a learning disability and their family that you are sure what you are saying is really what we want?

Helping us to make it happen and check you do what you have said you will do…… The Review said that it was important for us to all keep working together. Do you promise to make coming to the meetings that we have been elected to represent people at an absolute priority for your diaries and your teams’ diaries? Can we remind you of your reply if we need to?