Kelly Stuart 06/11/2018 News

A new toolkit developed by people with learning disabilities has been launched!
The new tool kit has been designed to help people with learning disabilities track self-advocacy projects.

It provides guidelines on how to set up projects in ways that make it easy to monitor project successes.
The tool kit, which has been developed by people with learning disabilities, also has a set of prompting cards to help people develop ideas for projects around key issues such as self advocacy, hate crime and better health services.

Joe Powell, All Wales People First, said:
“We wanted to make it easier for people with learning disabilities to set up, run and monitor projects on issues that directly affect them. The tool kit will help make that happen. It can be also be used by funders to check that the projects are providing value for money.”

The tool kit was developed with the help and support of a range of organisations, led by All Wales People First, including Barod CIC, independent researchers, People First groups across Wales and representatives from statutory services in Wales.

Jim Wright, Torfaen County Borough Council, said at the launch:
“The toolkit will help me do my job because if self advocacy groups use the toolkit they are likely to have better outcomes and more impact and will have the evidence to show what works. Good self advocacy projects help people to be safer and more independent. This stops people needing more services and helps me to spend money on the right things”

Funding for the tool kit was a £40,000 grant through DRILL (Disability Research on Independent Living and Learning), a £5 million programme funded by the National Lottery.
Dr Jody Mellor, DRILL Wales Programme Officer, said
“This tool kit is an innovative way for disabled people’s organisations to become more sustainable. It represents genuine coproduction and collaboration between disabled and non-disabled peer researchers and academics in Wales and England”.

More information about DRILL is available from http://www.drilluk.org.uk/
Copies of the tool kit can be downloaded from the Resources section of the All Wales People First website at https://allwalespeople1st.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Toolkit-A4-final-for-web.pdf