Poetry, writings and art blog

Learning disability and Mental health awareness

Monday, 26 June 2017

New Admins wanted on facebook groups.

Purpose.
Please pm me for an interview if you are interested in being Admin for either of one, some or all of our 12 groups, which some are Advocacy and Awareness groups rolled into 1 for Learning Disability and Mental and Mental Health, others are Disability friendship and socializing groups, a Stop bullying and hate crime group and 2 music groups.

Our groups are Facebook groups and not paid so please help out as and when you are free and when you feel like working on our groups. However' as long as your time is worthwhile you being an Admin. We do also have a few reliefs on some of our group.

Admin role and training involves.


  • Checking people's profiles before you add them to our groups.
  • Blocking people if there are reasons why they should be blocked, the reason for blocking isn't always necessary because someone is bad, for some people it may be for their own safety, for example, someone creating an account their name. 
  • Add people if they are safe to be members on our groups.
  • Keep an eye on what members are writing, adding, posting or and etc.
  • Adding post on our groups and talking about the post to the members. 
We will tell you more about the groups during in the interview.


Friday, 23 June 2017

Last up Date of Mencap Learning Disability week employmen 2008 to 2017 new update 2017.

·       I think employers should build an understanding with people with learning disabilities and Mental Health problems, which sadly hasn’t changed a lot in most walks of life.


·       People with learning disabilities ourselves understand it's important to keep safe, which is where Health and Safety comes into it but with the right support in the work placement this should be possible.
·       Not a lot has changed due to the cuts we faced in the time of 2010 – 2016, a lot of cuts are still happening.


As at least nine out of ten people with disabilities don’t drive.
·       We have to depend transport for eg buses?
·        Due to how bad the traffic is these been on time for work can't always be promise same applies to anyone who has to reply on public transport.
·        Public Transport still isn’t not been reliable can make people lose their jobs.
·       We are trying to help with disabilities and Health problems to be equal to all people; this isn't making our job easy with the right support.

A lot of people with disabilities and Health problems are on tablets that may slow them down; this is what Health staff should look into.
·       Some people can only take their tablets during their break not  the times they need to.
·       It's important that people should be aware of what's going on around them.
·       In the terms of people with disabilities work Health should be keeping record to people's and calling them out more often for checkups.
 Employers need to take peoples ‘health on board mainly people with disabilities or and Health problems.

With the right support for interviews and in the work place work it should be possible for people with disabilities to be employed or even self - employed if they want.


Employers are missing out on the creative talents most people with disabilities and Mental Health problems have got. They may be good at other things too; it's just going for they are good at what they enjoy.

Training and exams too.

·       I am Sara Jane Gorman a member of Our - Self Advocacy group supported by Mencap. This is our Travel Buddy Social Enterprise Proposal.

People with learning disabilities are encouraged to access community facilities but this will be hard and more expensive for those who don't travel independently.

Isolation is a feeling that many people with learning disabilities face in the evenings and weekends.
There's very little support for most people to get out and about, they never get the chance to learn how to travel independently. 

A' Travel Buddy' will support people to travel on public transport to get them where they want and need to go.
·       This will build peoples'confidenece up and potentially lead them to becoming an independent traveler in the future.

Due to how bad the traffic these days there can be hold ups to get people to places for certain time limits that are not just a problem for people with learning disabilities but for everyone. This is another cause of why unemployment is so high when public transport makes people late for work.

To promote the Health and well being of people with learning disabilities by increasing involvement in community based work and activities.

Intensively trained adults with learning disabilities to set up a city wide team of paid ' Travel Buddies'.

·       The proposed service will help to encourage social inclusion, promote independence, and give paid work chances.

Many people with disabilities do not like travelling on ' special buses to day centers and often spend a long time on the transport while other people are picked up.

Often people are travelling to day centers before going to college in the mornings.

·        This means two journeys instead of one! They are not learning to be in dependant if they are picked up and from their homes. 

Background In March 2008 we members of Our Shout Self Advocacy group decided to set up our own business.

·        In the past we haven't had any positive experiences in the workplace and we want to create jobs ourselves for people with disabilities with the right support.

·        After a time the Travel Buddy service didn't kick off so Mencap passed us on to Employment Pathways then we changed to Access All Areas Now! Learning Disability Awareness Training serve, which is even now due to funding, the cutbacks for our support very slow.

·       October 2010 Lucy our supporter of Our Shout left in October but we were thinking about making changes anyway as we now have very few members in Our Shout and we want to make our career grow.

·        Both I and Jessica run Access All Areas Now! But Jessica is finding she has too much work with Mencap to own Access All Areas Now! So hopefully I will be running it myself with the right support.

·        There again when I had a meeting with Our Shout I told them I didn't want to leave them out so asked them how they would like the idea of Our Shout and Access All Areas Now! Linking together so we can train new members to be where we are today and give services learning disability awareness training.

·       We hope day to create a services for topics of life for people with disabilities, that's the idea of Access All Areas Now! Travel Buddy we hope to be one of those topics.
Aims 

the travel service will give proper paid jobs for people with learning disabilities.

The travel service will give one to one support to people with learning disabilities to get around on public transport so they can get around.

To support social inclusion for people with disabilities and help they become more confident and independent.

To give a unique service to Wolverhampton that supports people with disabilities and give people by people with disabilities. There are many examples in other areas of the country where this is working well.


Mencap put a bid for European funding back in 2008 and still counting to look for other funding chances in chance this is not a success. Update 8th November 2010.



The problems that our disabilities cause can affect our lives, which can make it very hard for employers to understand and accept, this can cause us discrimination.

People with disabilities should be allowed to educate and train staff and managers on the training, education and support we need in all areas of including Health, Safety and Security.
·       I feel that's all we need as people with disabilities but with equal rights to get by in life.

·       If people with disabilities enjoy their job, if we have good people around us who are nice to us, People with disabilities need to train non - disabled people around disability awareness and train them to improve support for people with disabilities.
We will look forward to getting out of bed in the mornings if we like the people we work with and if we enjoy our job same goes for the rest of the society.

Employers should create jobs for people disabilities or and support, train and educate us to set up our own businesses, if that's what we want, we want to feel equal to others.
·       As you read in the Travel Buddy report Mencap are support us to hopefully getting our own business.
·       I think people with disabilities are getting so Feb up with waiting for people to support them into work, it's slowly getting common for them to be having support for them set their own business to support people like themselves.

Some people with disabilities are creative, what about making small changes? For: eg I can write poetry, stories, draw and paint. Attitudes need to change for the better.
·       You don't know what you are missing by turning down people like us down.
·       I feel as if it's only Mencap and Employment Pathways who have had faith in me. 

How many of you employ and pay people with disabilities and or Health problems?
What kinds of jobs are out there for people with disabilities and How many of you support us and employ us?
Most of this report is what I wrote to introduce to the Employment play.

Up date this report Saturday 12th September 2009
a year and a half after Mencap's Employment play in June 2008, the government has launched a plan called Valuing Employment Now.
·       It talks about how to help as many people with disabilities as possible into work.
·       The jobs should be for at least 16 hours a week. We shouldn't be trapped in this benefit trap we have a job to earn enough money to live our lives that includes paying for our Health care just like other people.
·        Benefits should be given to families and carers who look after people with disabilities who need a lot more care than what we do.

Government leaders say “We need more people with disabilities in jobs".

“We know that people with disabilities want to work and can do a good job that employers value.

“Employment is a fundamental part of life and only when people with disabilities have the same chances as all people."
This values us people with disabilities the same as all human beings.

This is going to be planned so that people with disabilities can work like all people but with the right support they want and need. 

I am pleased to say it looks like without building any hopes that the government hopefully won't let us down that things are starting to look up even though if it's took over a year to get feedback from the Employment play I wrote last year June 2008. Thank you those who supported us.

November 2010 update. 

All people over Britain are stuffer cutbacks for everything. When it comes to people with disabilities needing support for everyday skills for eg running a home, then there isn't the money to pay Social Care staff to support them. Families and carers aren't getting any younger so what does the future bring?
·       These cutbacks affect every topic to do with people live which affects you whether you have disabilities and Health problems or not.

It is more dangerous for people with disabilities to look at the four walls 24 hours a day we need to work and go to college, we will just depressed otherwise.
·        We need more to life than just keeping our lives and minds busy, we want a career just like you.

If you would like to email me on anything at all, I would be very interested here from you if it's anything to do with learning disability, meaning family member, carer, parent or a person with a learning disability yourself.

·       You make want to talk about the cutbacks or and learning disability rights. sarajgorman@gmail.com

Wednesday, 21 June 2017

Mencap's learning disability week Employment 2017

What needs to improve?
  • Most important the health system and more check health ups, which means people with disabilities need to be given more chances to educate and training health professionals to help employers accept people's health needs and take them into consideration.  Poeple in the work place staff and employmers should have First Aid training.  
  • People with disabilities need to be given more chance to educate and train with all professionals who work in the field of learning disability, this includes health problems, mental health, disorders, long - term conditions or and etc. 
  • Most of all we need to train and educate the government too.
  • Professions and employers need to learn about different types of disabilities, health problems, mental health, disorders, long - term conditions or and etc.
  • How these problems affect people, what people with these problems can learn to do and what they know how to do. 
  • Professionals and employers need to research the jobs and courses people with different problems can do with the right support. 
Please feel free to comment on my website or and Facebook your say and feedback on what you think is good, bad and what needs to with how the system is with people with disabilities accessing employment. If you are a person with a learning disability whose in employment, please feel free to talk about how you got your job, what and how your job is or and etc. 

Tuesday, 6 June 2017

My Work profile.


My name is Sara Jane Gorman; I am a visiting Literature for the University Of Wolverhampton at Walsall campus.  As an Advocate I used to speak up for the rights of learning disability at Our Shout Advocacy group which was funded by Royal Wolverhampton Mencap.

I have delivered learning disability awareness training to.
·       Health care students at the University Of Wolverhampton.
·       The School of Nursing at the University Of Wolverhampton.

·       Healthcare Professionals at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton.


I have firsthand experience with learning disability and mental health.
 I was born in Wolverhampton.
 I shared a very small business with another person with learning disabilities supported by Royal Wolverhampton Mencap and Employment Pathways back in December 2009 to 2010. It was called Access All Areas Now! It became unsuccessful due to the lack of funding and supports Mencap's and Employment Pathways was able to give. My work it’s self with Royal Wolverhampton Mencap stopped due to a lack of funding back in May 2011.
Now Employment Pathways had changed its name to Senator. Our aims were to see that people with learning disabilities get better help than what we did.

I will always make sure that learning disability is always on the agenda. I have supported members of Our Shout to chair and take the minutes of the meeting on topics of their choice.

I am a keen writer; in 2008 I wrote and Co-produced a play to highlight the difficulties faced by people with learning disabilities in accessing employment. Not long after writing the play I did a Script and Screen course to try and better my writing.
I have been writing my website since 2007, it's called Sara Revealed sararevealed.blogspot.com/ my email address is sarajgorman@gmail.com
I once helped Mencap set up a Disabled Writer’s group. I’m unsure whether or not the Writer’s group is still going or not because I haven’t had any work with Mencap for over twelve mouths.
Sara’ s feedback from the 1st year session the benefit cuts.
 Really emphasised with what Sara was saying.  I could see that the benefit system doesn’t seem to understand nor care about people with LD.

It was good that Sara highlighted the emotional, physical and psychological problems facing people with LD. It is bad that the Government, who are meant to be looking after the people, have put laws and systems in place that leave people with LD in such distress.

People with LD can experience anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts, illness, lose their homes, be without money for long periods of time, due to their benefits being stopped or assessed.  

People with LD need as much help as possible when it comes to benefits. And as future LD nurses, we will be aware of their plight and in a position to help with applications, as advocates, and with calming their fears.


At this particular moment in time it is all about awareness, understanding, and empathy.  If a LD nurse is aware of the issues then we will be in a better position to help people with LD who is in this situation.

Awareness of learning disabilities and Mental health Benefit cuts.
·        This is an update of the Benefits cuts awareness presentation.
·        Lives of vulnerable peoples' lives matters as much as yours.
·        As you know stress is the biggest killer of all but if you are a vulnerable person, you can't cope with it as much as other people.
·        What professions need to be aware of is that 10’600 people with disabilities and health problems died last year due to the benefit cuts.
I

Monday, 5 June 2017

Career support in our disability groups.


  • How would you like the idea of us setting up career support on our disability groups not only for Learning Disability but all year round which is on most of our disability groups anyway?

  •   This won't be a job club because we are Facebook groups not businesses or and companies so we don't have any policy or insurance over us, which why we are limited to what we can do regardless of what our skills are and are not.



  •  No matter what are abilities and skills are and are not we are only human just like you are accidents and mistakes can happen even if most things could be rare.



  •  The last thing we want is to be  Dishonest with you. Anything to do with person details we won't into because most of us on Facebook don't know one another in person. 

  • What we can support with is googling things and websites such as finding job search, courses, employment services, all you will need to do is tell us where to look. For eg: job clubs in London. 

  • What we can't support with is CVs, cover letters, and application forms but we can find you job clubs, employment services or and etc who can because they are businesses or and companies that have policy and insurances over them. 

Saturday, 20 May 2017

The way our facebook groups for disabilities and health problems work.

1.Feel free to ask at any time if you can pm us.

 2.You may find for whatever reason some Admins may not be happy pm people they don't know and your wishes stand the other way round. 

3. It's not about trusting and distrusting it's about the fact that Facebook is so worldwide and so many people know and don't know one another. 

4.That doesn't mean though that you will always find that an Admin won't pm you.


 5. However' if there's Admin who won't pm you, they will search for an Admin on our team who will.


 6. If no one will on our team we will contact other like ours to find Admins who will


 7. Please don't be alarmed the chances of us finding it hard to get an Admin to pm you is very unlikely and rare but please respect their wishes.


8.Like we have said before those who are aware but I am saying again in case of you are not aware. All our Admins have different skills.

Reasons for telling the team. 


Whichever Admin you talk to it's private between you both but we will tell just the team if.


9.If we are very concerned about your safety, ours or both.


10. we are not trained to deal with what you are asking for, which mean we will try  Admins on our team who is if no one is then we will search for help elsewhere. 


11. If you ask us to we will look for information or and websites online on whatever you may be asking for.

  

12.Just to also let know as well as your safety matter to us, my Admins' safety matter as well. 

13. I can't and I don't want to speak for what you decide to or my Admins.


 14.Please be aware if for any reason they are not happy with you at any time during in a talk, they have the rights to remove and block you, even unfriend and block if they are added as friend to you if they show me proof. 



12.The chances are very unlikely you will face any problems with anyone on our team.


 13.If you face any problems with anyone on our team, please provide proof and they will face been take off our team and groups just the same as members been taken off the groups.



 15.Your rights are equal to ours.

 16. Action will be only taken if there's proof of whatever it is has happened. 

17. If you feel to that my system of running these facebook groups are unfair please free to leave out groups at any time. For everyone's' safety we try to be fair as we possibly can be.


18. If either you see anyone on our groups been bullied, abused or and etc, please do report it with proof with whether it's a member or Admin!


19.Before reporting for someone else, please make the person aware and show your concern, respect the victim's wishes if they don't want you to report it.


20.However' if you are concerned that the situation is getting worse tell the victim you are going to report it to us and reasons why. thank you.


21.Please feel free to report any bullying and or abuse or and etc if you face it yourself with proof.


21. We will remove and block the person and even report the person to facebook if needs be whether you have reported them to us for yourself or someone else.


22. Our reasons for wanting proof is so we don't blame the wrong person for any situation. 


Monday, 8 May 2017

Dementia in people with disabilities and health problems.

Dementia is an illness in the brain.
Our brains tell our bodies what to do.
What we think is what we say.
It could be get dressed.
It could go out for a walk.
To think and remember things is hard.
When having Dementia the brain thinks less and becomes more tried.
We forget people or and places.
We remember things from years ago but not what happened a second or a minute ago.
We easily get confused.
We forget words.
We lose skills like for example; using a knife and fork. 


Dementia in people with disabilities and health problems.
 Dementia is a double problem for people with disabilities and health problems compared to people because it's something else that affects our lives, even Dementia affects everyone's lives. This is rather surprising despite a lot of people with disabilities and health problems suffer from lack of communication and understanding. It seems common sense that the Dementia in people with disabilities and health problems are worse because of communication and memory problems compared to people without disabilities and health problems. Please search online to find out whether or not Demeaffects effect people with disabilities and health problems worse compared to other people. I would be more than grateful if you email me to give me the answer on sarajgorman@gmail.com




How people with Dementia, learning disabilities and other health problems can be misunderstood.
People can misunderstand people as loopy, crazy, Senile, cook coo, dotty, past it, loony, not all there, in another world, even useless and hopeless. When you have had disabilities and health problems all your life you get use to being misunderstood different things, it shouldn't have to be that way. You are as insane and together as everyone else underneath.

Dementia is an illness to the brain; it can appear in anyone not just in people with disabilities and health problems.


Memory loss.  You may find it hard to take in information, therefore you may forget what you read, what you watched, what you listened to or and what someone has said to you. People with Dementia can forget how to do things and what they were doing. They could remember things from 50 years ago for example but forget things from as little as a second ago.

In childhood I was on very strong tablets for Epilepsy, they blocked my awareness of getting around safety unless I was supported, my memory was a lot worse than it is now which got me into trouble with a lot of adult and it caused children to bullying me and they affected my ability to learn in school. It was only over two years after I was taken off the tablets I slowly started to get better. Learn better, start to get around outside on my own and my memory slowly got better. Search Dementia, Learning Disability and Health problems to see if a person with these problems can go back to where they were as a child. sarajgorman@gmail.com



I looked up to see if people with Epilepsy are likely to face Lewy Body Dementia but Health professions don't seem to know yet.  My Epilepsy has come and gone throughout my life from birth to 12 years old then not again till I was 31 till I was 43. Somewhere this website I wrote about Epilepsy and Anxiety because seizures and panic attack can get confused if you suffer from Epilepsy and Anxiety which I have done. The closest to Epilepsy and Anxiety in my research of Lewy Body Dementia is Essential Tremor.      


I know someone with a Speech problems, if he’s in risk Dementia, what kind of Dementia is he in risk of?sarajgorman@gmail.com



The risks are higher in people with a learning disability than other people. People with Down’s syndrome have the highest risk because round about 30 years ago and before they would only live roughly a 30 years. Now their Dementia is in risk of kicking in when they are roughly 30 to 40 years of age. Like not everyone gets Dementia not everyone with Down’s syndrome gets it. Not everyone with other disabilities and health problems gets Dementia.


It can be hard for people with Dementia to get the right help and support. Without the right care and support Dementia can be more scary than cancer.

Vascular Dementia is when someone suffers from a Stroke but that doesn't necessary mean the person is or isn't going to get Dementia.
Lewy Body Dementia is in someone who has Parkinson’s Disease but again doesn't necessary mean they will get Dementia.
The law says that it should be easy for people with disabilities and health problems to get the support from services but that’s not always the case.
If you have Dementia you might be in risk of hurting yourself.
If you have Dementia you may lose your awareness of getting around.
If you have Dementia you may not understand others.
If you have Dementia you may replete what you have already said time and time again, memory could go in no time.
If you have Dementia you could think you are still what you were fifty years ago for example.
Some people with Dementia feel confused and upset when they look in the mirror to find out they are not what they used to look like.
Professions who may support you are not allowed to support you with your permission for eg; when you get about and cross the road.
 If they are curtained about your safety they should contact local councils if you haven’t given them permission to support you.
The local councils should contact them in 21 days.