Calling all budding artists! New visual art workshops for people with a disability
Mencap Liverpool members can tap into their ‘arty’ side thanks to a series of workshops for people with a disability.
Liverpool-based company Red Dot will be staging a series of FREE introductory visual art workshops, for disabled people, in February.
Each workshop will take place between 10.30am-1.30pm, and will cover the following areas:
1. An Introduction to Painting – Monday, 6th February
2. An Introduction to Jewellery – Tuesday, 7th February
3. An Introduction to Collage – Wednesday, 8th February
No previous experience of creating artwork is necessary to take part, and refreshments will be provided. Please note that all workshop leaders have previous experience of working with people with a disability.
These creative sessions will be held at the Liverpool Centre for Arts Development (LCAD), 2a Franceys Street (off Brownlow Hill), Liverpool, Merseyside, L3 5YQ. This venue is fully accessible.
To register a place on any of the workshops please contact Colin Serjent, Red Dot Project Co-ordinator, on 07759 525 075 or email colinserjent@hotmail.com
Happy New Year Social – Tuesday 24th January
Mencap Liverpool are hosting the first social afternoon of 2012 on Tuesday 24th January. We would love to see you all there for a cup of tea and a catch up! Please click on the link below for more details (poster designed by office volunteer Sarah).
If you need any more information, please give us a call on 0151 707 8582 or email janet.sullivan@mencapliverpool.org.uk
Help shape the future of services to people with profound and multiple learning disabilities in Liverpool
Parents and carers of young people and adults with profound and multiple learning disabilities are invited to help shape the future of services in Liverpool next month.
Organised by the Merseycare Trust, the ‘Raising Our Sights’ events offer you the opportunity to share your views on what is working well and what needs to change.
There will be two sessions, the first on Wednesday, 1st February, and the second on Wednesday, 22nd February. Both events will take place between 10.30am – 2pm.
A follow-up event has also been arranged for Wednesday, 21st March, from 10.30am to 2pm. All sessions are being held at the Lace Conference Centre, Croxteth Drive, Sefton Park, Liverpool L17 1AA.
A buffet lunch will be provided, and those who attend will have the chance to win a short break holiday, in a fully-adapted static caravan, on the Presthaven Sands Haven Holiday Site.
For more information, or to confirm your attendance, contact Suzanne Robinson on 0151 737 4850 or Simon Grindy on 0151 737 4847.
Your Chance To Have Your Say On Local Health Services
January is a very important month for campaigning, as we all look forward and hope to bring about positive changes for people with a learning disability 
in 2012.
Currently I am trying to encourage people with a learning disability to volunteer to become part of the ‘Members Council’ of their local NHS trust.
By sitting on these councils, you could have a say about the provision and policy of health care in your local area. I want to empower people to join these so they are able to raise their concerns and hopefully create positive changes.
Encouraging people to do this, for me personally, is all part of a greater desire to get disabled people – including people with a learning disability – to join together and become more active in mainstream society so that their voices are more widely heard and accepted. The more proactive we are, the harder it is for those in higher authority to ignore our needs and misconceive important issues!
So we encourage people with a learning disability in Liverpool, if they are a patient/service user of the NHS, to have their say on Merseycare’s member’s council.
The easiest way of doing so is via the application form. If you find this form difficult, myself or another member of the team will always be happy to help!
Welfare Reform – The Concerns
Happy new year everyone! January marks an important time for us in the Mencap Liverpool campaigns team, as we get ready once again to fight for the rights of people with a learning disability.
In my first blog of 2012 I am going to talk about the pressing matter of the Welfare Reform Bill, and some concerns I have particularly around the proposed changes to Disability Living Allowance (DLA).
Mencap Liverpool is extremely concerned about the proposed change of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
Here, I have highlighted some of the main concerns:
- The government estimate that changing DLA to PIP will mean a 20% decrease in the amount of disabled children and adults that will be supported by this benefit.
- The government proposes that there will be no indefinite awards, which means that people will have to have regular assessments to decide whether they should still receive this benefit – these constant reassessments will cause people who have a life long disability significant distress. Surely these reassessments are a further waste of money? Has this not already been tried and failed with Employment Support Allowance (ESA)?
- A removal of the ‘middle rate’ – those who are not necessarily on the more severe end of the scale will lose the money that pays for vital support for them in the home and in work. We fear that getting rid of the ‘middle rate’ means that everyone currently receiving this rate will be reassessed and moved into the ‘low rate’ group.
Many people with Chrones Disease, Bi-Polar and other serious illnesses have already had their DLA appeals turned down. Only 14,000 out of 36,000 appeals were won last year!
This bill’s final reading will take place in The House Of Commons pending January 12th. I have a prominent involvement in the fight against disability cuts, and alongside many others have written to every notable Liberal Democrat Peer during the Lords Stage of the Bill to urge them to win a ‘no’ vote by opposing the reform of DLA.
But the work is not done – Mencap Liverpool (as well as independently organized and user led groups such as Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC)) urge you all to GET INVOLVED!
Read disability blogs and be active in the fight against cuts through setting up local anti-disability-cuts group. Write to every MP & Lord you can think of. Use petitions, partake in consultations, volunteer at your local disability charity and get in touch with your local council.
Campaigns such as The Hardest Hit have made good progress but I think that we need to continue to request more detailed demands, raising concerns such as those listed above. We – disability charities and disability campaign groups – cannot do this alone. We need popular support. Join us in the fight for preservation of DLA.
Thomas’ Campaigns Update
Currently, Politicians known as Lords are discussing ‘The Welfare Reform Bill’ in The House of Lords.
This is about the access disabled adults and children have to their benefits and money.
Everything being discussed helps disabled people perform daily tasks and live independently. These possible changes being discussed by Lords are all part of something called ‘The Welfare Reform Bill.’
Some Lords will vote for a change to the current support disabled people (including people with a learning disability) use and receive. This could threaten the amount of money you as a have to live on, and any help you may need to live independently.
Only MP’s and Lords can vote and make these changes become Law. Disabled people are not involved at this stage in The House of Lords, although there are some disabled Peers or Lords who will be voting.
It is very important that you understand that any changes could affect you and that you have your say and join other disabled people in trying to persuade and put pressure on Lords that this Welfare Reform Bill should not become Law.
3 Teams of Lords sit in the House of Lords:
Labour
Conservative
Liberal Democrat
Labour are the minority, and are in opposition – so although they will vote against these changes, they do not have enough Lords to defeat the bill in the vote to give a ‘No’ result (which means the changes wouldn’t become Law.)
The Conservatives are the majority of the Government, who created these plans so they will almost certainly support all parts of the Bill.
The Liberal Democrats are the most important team of politicians and Members in The House of Lords. They are a small part of the Government and therefore have Lords in important positions and who are keen to listen to make sure the Government does the right thing.
The people we need to convince are Lords who belong to Liberal Democrats. They need to be told your thoughts on this Bill and the proposed changes spoken about in Parliament. Doing this could defeat the Welfare Reform Bill.
We need to demonstrate through our personal experience or stories how it might adversely affect yours and other people’s lives.
You can oppose these changes by participating in our campaign against cuts affecting people with learning disability by writing your own letter to a member of the House of Lords, some of whom email addresses are provided below – or if this is difficult for you there is a template letter I have written for Mencap Liverpool & its members to send to Peers to get our needs and concerns heard so that they can make an informed decision.
Please see our campaigns page for the template letter and a list of important email addresses you can send it to
Update from Lydia
Happy healthy hello Mencap Liverpool members, I want to say how impressed I was with all you guys during our recent boxing sessions. All of you picked it up really quickly and seemed to enjoy the boxing loads. And there was tons of energy in the room, I was tired just watching you guys. As you know this type of exercise is great for getting rid of any stress that you may be having. Even if you not got any gloves and pads, you can always ‘shadow box’.
Some healthy tips for members :
1. Eat healthy food every 3hrs – Skipping meals can lead to out-of-control hunger, often resulting in overeating. When you’re very hungry, it is also tempting to forget about good nutrition. Snacking between meals can help curb hunger, but don’t eat so much that your snack becomes an entire meal.
2. Look at your diet pitfalls – look at what foods / drinks you think are unhealthy and try to reduce / cut back on them.
3. Meal plate – when you make a meal try and include a Protein, a Carbohydrate and a Vegetable.
4. Keep working out to your circuits programmes at home
See you soon!
Lydia
Video from Wednesday’s Festive Fundraiser
There are many clips I wish I’d captured from last Wednesday evening, Anna performing of ’A Case of You’, Tom’s Bohemian Rhapsody on solo(!) guitar, Dave’s beautiful version of Billie Jean and Anna closing with ‘Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas’ were my personal highlights. Unfortunately I was far too enthralled to get my phone out 
Here’s one I did get though; it’s Anna performing Stacey Kent’s ‘I wish I could go travelling again’. You’ll also see why Mike Smith (saxophonist), delighted his new fans from the Royal School for the Blind!
It’s from my work phone so it’s not a brilliant picture, but the sound quality is pretty decent. It might take a minute to load properly, so I’d recommend you make yourself a cuppa and come back to enjoy the clip in full.
Sarah Jones, Chief Exec
Thank you!
We would like a say a massive ‘thank you’ to everyone who attended our Christmas Fundraiser with Anna Corcoran – you helped us raise a whopping £1,300 for Mencap Liverpool! Aside from the money raised it was a really lovely evening and we’ve already had many requests to do another event in the spring. We’ll put the official pictures up soon, but until then, here are some from Sarah’s iPhone!
We would like to thank the following who donated their time and talents completely free of charge
Anna Corcoran (www.annacorcoran.com),
Rob Vincent (www.robertvincentmusic.com) and Dave O’Grady (www.daveogrady.com) ;
photographer James Stack (www.stackphotography.co.uk)
and Leaf who provided a fantastic venue for our event (www.thisisleaf.co.uk).
We hope you all enjoyed yourselves as much as we did and look forward to seeing you soon!
Mencap Liverpool wins top accolade for wildflower project
L-R: Jonty Rix (representing the Rix Centre), Sarah Jones (Mencap Liverpool Chief Executive), Ticky Lowe (Project Co-ordinator) and Marcus Weisen (Director of the Jodi Mattes Trust)
Our exciting “Touch Pods” project, which is helping people explore the wonderful world of wildflowers using digital technologies, has scooped a prestigious national award!
Last week, we were presented with a UK Jodi Award for promoting accessible digital culture at a special ceremony in Swansea.
Managed by ‘Access to Heritage’, the project saw young people and adults with a learning disability work alongside artists Naomi Kendrick, Mai Thomas and Ross Dalziel to recreate the beauty and science of wildflower seeds.
After a busy 18-month period of consultation, three brightly-coloured ‘Touch Pods’ were designed, inspired by the textures found on wildflower seeds. The vibrant pods – one fluffy, one with craters and one with ridges – use innovative digital technology ‘Arduino’. When touched the pods make sounds which relate to their texture – and this promotes exploration and understanding.
Ticky Lowe, Project Co-ordinator for Access to Heritage, said: “We were absolutely delighted to win such a prestigious award and to have our Touch Pods recognised at a national level. A lot of hard work and creativity went into developing these fun and engaging resources for the whole Merseyside community to enjoy.”
Sarah Jones, Chief Executive for Mencap Liverpool added: “The Touch Pods are a brilliant example of how people with a learning disability can help make the world easier to understand for everyone.”
The Touch pods will go on public display at the National Wildflower Centre, in Knowsley, in March 2012. They will also be available on loan to schools and day centres from summer 2012.
The pods are the product of “Get Closer to Wildflower Seeds”, an Access to Heritage project. You can follow each stage of this award-winning project by visiting the blog at www.getclosertowildflowerseeds.blogspot.com
