Friday 17 February 2012

Meet Chaz: Aspergers Symptoms in Infants, Toddlers, and Older Children

Meet Chaz: Aspergers Symptoms in Infants, Toddlers, and Older Children

I was a very hyperactive child due to very heavy medication I was taking for the fits I had from birth. At the age 13 I was taken off the tablets and after about year or two I calmed down a lot. It's possible I may have had ADHD as a child. 40 yrs on it's hard to get my disabilities dianosed but children can disanosed. If I can help or and you can help me please email me on sarajgorman@googlemail.com

I have always had problems with my co-ordation and Motor skills, which is known now as Dyspraxia. Just over 42 years there was very little education on illnesses and disabilities getting dieanosed was very rare.

Thursday 16 February 2012

2012 up date to learning disability and mental health.

The reason I haven't done a lot on my website lately is because I haven't had any work since May 2011. Mencap had been through a lot of cuts and changes. Many Mencap staff have moved from one office to the other. There hasn't been enough jobs or funding but slowly things could be starting to move on again. There are a lot staff from other Mencap offices now working for Royal Wolverhampton Mencap. There are only roughly two members of staff who have been there as long as me if not long.

There won't be a lot for learning disability week this year I think because we will be doing the same as last year, which was Hate Crime. Hopefully this will give Royal Wolverhampton a chance to catch up with work we didn't get round to doing last year. The cuts and changes may have affected funding and the work that needed doing.

After been off work since May I am hoping to set up a Hate Crime and Anti Bullying project, which I started supporting someone to do last year. Many people have said how serious Hate Crime is mainly when people with disabilities and health problems face Hate Crime. For this reason Mencap put on last year a three year campaign counting from year on to Learning Disability Hate Crime.

I guess like most people and places these days very little work has been coming in,From May to January was hell for me. The start of last year was a bad start with two of my friends died, another friend had a break down and we had to put a stop to Access All Areas now because we couldn't get any services to help us fund it. I was so down in myself I was having counselling from Healthy Minds. On top of that I dropped out of Our Shout in May and a lot of the staff I knew were leaving. I spend from May to January there was nothing, I was so board. Even so I still kept on trying to find ways I could move my career upper a ladder.

Just before this Christmas just gone I started the Mencap Job club,I was referred from Healthy Minds had referred me to a few places, Wolverhampton college to go a Mentoring course, Remploy which is a Learning Disability job club and another course which is just advise interviews cvs and etc and I am doing my ITQ Entry Level in computers.

Although I am not back to work yet I am starting to feel a lot better in myself than I was. I will be having a meeting at Albert road on Wednesday with Our Shout but the interview will be sometime around may be the end of March. I say it's a interview, it may be just a chat because they know I have been there before.

I have spent this weekend reading the Mencap website on this shocking report, I have thought about nothing else. I started Mencap in October 2007 about six mouths after my Nan died.
I was faced with a Death Indifference report about six people with learning disabilities who lived in difference parts of Britain died under the care of the NHS.

I raised Learning Disability awareness with Our Shout the Self - Advocacy group I was working with. By doing that we did loads of drama plays and presentants on the way we have been treated in hospital. Our idea of doing this job is to see that people with disabilities and health problems can be treated the same as other people in hospital.

On Friday 17th February 2012 Mencap had sent me one of their monthly news letters, which has always happened in the five years I have been working there including the time I have been out of work from last May to near enough now.
I was shocked to hear that the six deaths have now risen 74 Just because Health professions know very little or nothing at all about learning disability and mental health.

I can't wait to get back to work so I can raise stronger awareness with the people I work with who also have learning disabilities and mental health problems.