Claire Morgan 02/10/2020 Joe's Soapbox

Joe’s Soapbox – Covid

We have been very busy during the Covid 19 epidemic.

We have collected your stories and diary entries.

And have shared them on our website, with Welsh Government and other important people.

Your stories and experiences have been used as part of our Covid report.

The report was written by Philippa Davies.

Philippa is our MIRROR Co-Ordinator.

She based the strategy on our members stories and the feedback from staff.

What is clear to me, is just how amazing People First have been during this pandemic.

We always knew it was great.

But in times of crisis like this, People First responded in a way that no other organisation could.

Without it, many of our members would be isolated and lonely.

Many would not be able to get their groceries or medication.

This needs to be made clear when things get back to normal.

And we continue our fight to save self-advocacy.

As Chief Executive I have been sharing your stories and experiences on many groups.

The most important groups being:

• Cross Party Group on Disability
• Disability Equality Forum
• Learning Disability Consortium with Welsh Government and Public Health Wales.

We are concerned about many issues for people with learning disabilities during this time.

The most important thing is the lack of choice and control people with learning disabilities have had over their lives.

Decisions about day centres and whether they can see their families have often not included them.

We are not happy about this.

It is not good enough.

We are currently working on a toolkit to help groups coming out of lockdown.

This will be with you shortly.

And we will be working on a position statement about the way Coronavirus has affected people with learning disabilities in Wales.

A big thanks to all of our members and staff for sharing your stories and experiences with us.

We will continue to fight your corner.