Credit: All photos taken by Cheryl Ferris-Stewart
Throughout Leeds Learning Disability Week 2024 (Monday 17th-Sunday 23rd June), there was a celebratory feel. Every event that took place had positive vibes, where adults with learning disabilities felt able to speak up and be listened to.
Across five days, members of our Asking You!, CHANGE and Leep1 teams either attended or helped to organise several events, indoors and outdoors. Combined, we felt that the week had done a lot to help raise the voice of adults with a learning disability.
Empowerment
This was certainly true on Tuesday 18th June, where three events, one after the other, took place. Firstly, the Leeds Learning Disability People’s Parliament had its’ annual Takeover of the Council Chambers at Leeds Civic Hall. Members of the People’s Parliament were able to ask questions local councillors and people from services including health and transport.
Around 100 people packed the Chambers, asking about safety on buses and employment support. Once the People’s Parliament closed, the members went on to start the Learning Disability Pride March. This was a great exercise in empowerment, with members of the march carrying placards bearing slogans such as “Proud to be me”.
The march went from Millennium Square to Kirkgate Market. At the end of the route, the marchers were greeted with cheers from stallholders at the Being Social Marketplace.
This event saw a range of local services give information on what social opportunities were available for adults with learning disabilities. We had a stall there, speaking to dozens of people about opportunities at Café Leep and about some of Leep1’s regular groups.
Awards
Following Tuesday’s events, Leep1 held their monthly Club Night on Thursday 20th June, before some of Leep1’s members took part in a five-a-side football tournament on Friday 21st June, organised by Aspire CBS.
The week ended with Forum Central’s 2024 Learning Disability Awards, where many of our staff, volunteers, members and even Trustees came, dressed in their finest. These awards were particularly important, as we were nominated for two of them!
Café Leep were up for the Member of the Year Prize, whilst our own Sapphire Malcolm received a nomination for the Outstanding Contribution award. Although Café Leep missed out, Sapphire won! Congratulations to Sapphire; we appreciate all of your help and support over the years!
Sapphire does a lot of work with several organisations, including Connect in the North as one of their Pass It On People. With us, she has helped at the Café, supported some of Leep1’s groups and aided project work led by Asking You! and CHANGE.
Working together
At the awards, it was great to see so many brilliant organisations working with adults with learning disabilities get recognised for their amazing work. We are proud to be working alongside them, especially for events like those during Leeds Learning Disability Week.
We look forward to continuing our partnership work with them all year round. Whether at information events, in jointly-run projects or at forums, by working together, we can all help make Leeds a better place to live if you have a learning disability.
We hope that the work that has gone into events throughout the week carries on over the coming months. People with learning disabilities face many barriers when it comes to getting support they need, paid work or when trying to access services.
Using the pride march, Council Chambers Takeover and other events as a starting point will help. Ongoing and future project work, including Asking You!’s Citizen Advocacy service, the Leep1 Inclusion for Employment (LIFE) project and CHANGE’s Easy Read resources, will also contribute.
