Valuing People Now Events What people told us about Valuing People Now and the Partnership Board By Ian Davies Learning Disability Partnership Board May 2009

In March and April, we held 5 Valuing People Now events, they were in Kettering Corby Wellingborough Northampton And Towcester We saw around 150 people!

I went to all the events to tell people about my role on the regional and national forum Alex and Maisie and I took turns introducing the day at each different event We asked people what they thought about Valuing People Now and the Partnership Board and this is what they said...

Valuing People Now People need to know That everyone is equal and should be treated equally and that this is the law That we have the same rights as anyone else That we need to feel safe on the streets That we want to learn new skills so that we can get a job That we should be treated with respect

Who should know about Valuing People Now? Health services and public services Bus drivers and taxi drivers Shopkeepers Pub staff Small companies that might give us a job Staff, carers, partners, friends Police Teachers Houses of Parliament and the Prime Minister

Elderly people living in the community People who are blind and People with complex needs There could be an “accreditation” scheme so people get stars if they are working to the Valuing People Now ideas and principles Training for staff – people with learning disabilities could train people who work in services, in shops, or on buses

How should we tell people about the Valuing People Now? Local radio - Radio Northampton, Heart Radio Newspapers TV - Lots of people watch programmes like Coronation Street, Valuing People Now could be advertised in the breaks. Publicity campaign to treat people with learning disabilities the same as everyone else – Rosemary Bromwich said she could ask the council to do this or help with this

National promotion about the big messages Billboards Post Office adverts Send letters telling people about Valuing People Now Visit units to speak to people with learning disabilities Tell people about Valuing People at team meetings and appoint a person in each team to get the messages to everybody in the service

Partnership Board Some people still don’t know about the Partnership Board or what it does Partnership Board meetings should be held at different times and days so people would be able to attend. Meetings could take place in locality areas including “Day Services” and local venues to help include people in the community. Have signing translations at all meetings and events

People on the ground with everyday experience should be at Board meetings. More parent carers should be on the Board Some people did not know about the Partnership Board website There should be 2 way feedback from board to services and for the services to say what they are doing Board to do less talking and make more things happen Involve more people with learning disabilities so that they have a voice

How should we tell people about the Board? An accessible DVD about how the Partnership Board works, when and where they meet and what they do. People also want to know about good things and successes. Partnership Board Newsletter is a good idea. Send it to different places like libraries and doctors surgeries.

A summary sent out after each Board meeting and tell people where they can find out more Advertise the Board in the Talking Newspaper for people who cannot see well Put information on the internet Invite more people to the Board meetings Support people with disabilities to share their ideas with others

The people that came to our events gave us lots of ideas about how we can tell people about Valuing People Now and the Partnership Board. We now have lots of work to do to make this happen Thank you