Claire Morgan 21/07/2021 Joe's Soapbox

It was a shame that this year’s AdFest had to be on zoom again.

We wanted to meet you in person in North Wales.

This year we held AdFest in June instead of October.

This is so we can hold AdFest on learning disability week.

Or Learning Disability Pride week.

It will mean in future moving our AGM to October.

Although we were on zoom, we still had a lot of fun.

We discussed a lot of important things.

The theme of AdFest was Pride.

Are we proud of who we are?

Is having a learning disability a part of our identity?

Like it is with other disabled people.

Or are we People First?

Is our disability just a part of who we are?

Members were very clear that they were People First?

Being recognised as a human being was the most important thing.

Members were very open about this, in the Devil’s Advocacy session.

And in the Pride workshop that followed it.

Tracey and Hannah discussed the idea of Pride in more detail.

We thank Victim support for their workshop on Cyber Crime.

This is very important as more people with learning disabilities access the internet.

The internet is a very important way of connecting with others in the community.

Especially during Covid 19.

Afsheen from Unified Sport and Board member Bob Rhodes talked about how sport can give us access to our communities.

How it can help us to be accepted as equals.

The West Wales Dream Team showed us their excellent work.

With their Regional Partnership Boards.

This is important if people with learning disabilities are to shape their communities.

So that they are welcomed and accepted.

And finally, Natasha and Lucy from the Through Our Eyes project held a workshop looking at how we want to be portrayed in the media.

This is important if we are proud of who we are and if we care about how we are seen.

The fringe and evening events were also a success.

A big thank you to all for taking part.

We really hope we can see you again next June in 2022.

Hopefully, this time in person.

In North Wales.

In the meantime, we hope to see you at our Halloween event.

And Annual General Meeting in October.

We will let you know the date soon.

Victory for Self-Advocacy.