Campaign 4 Change

Campaign 4 Change is a self-advocacy group for people with learning disabilities and/or autism where members campaign and raise awareness of different issues and initiatives both internally and nationally.

C4C are an inspiration to people with disabilities

Achieve together has partnered with Campaign 4 Change to help passionate and driven people with learning disabilities and/or autism amplify their voice. Meaningful relationships, the right to have a good time, trans rights, stopping hate crime, accessibility, and ditching labels are all in their sights.

Ditching labels

C4C’s mission is to raise awareness of disrespectful language often used by staff in the care industry. The group did a workshop about their campaign #MindYourLanguage at the (un)Ordinary Conference and a photo campaign. The campaign inspired staff to avoid using disrespectful, outdated language to describe the people they support.

Have a look at #MindYourLanguage posters here:

  

Meaningful relationships

Loneliness affects many people with learning disabilities and autism, so members of C4C aim to help people feel included and part of something. Members of the group are involved in the Supported Loving Network – a network of organisations, professionals and people with learning disabilities and/or autism who share ideas, campaign and stand up for people’s right to have meaningful relationships. These meaningful relationships can include romantic, sexual or platonic, no matter what disabilities they may have.

Stephen runs a ‘Walk and Talk’ group where people supported can chat and exercise, enabling them to make new friends while taking care of their physical health. Stephen was three times shortlisted as a finalist in the National Learning Disabilities and Autism Awards. Also, he was named one of the Leaders on the Learning Disability and Autism Leaders’ List 2019 for his outstanding work– read his story here.

Stephen at his walk and talk fundraiser

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

C4C even took part in Brighton Pride Parade 2019 to show their support for all love.

Samir at the Brighton Pride Parade

 

The right to a good time

Not everyone who receives support has the opportunity to go out at night as most adults do due to rigid staff rotas. Leon and Fiifi are Stay Up Late ambassadors – a charity that campaigns for people’s right to stay out as long as they want to and have no bedtimes. Fiifi organises a monthly Pool Knock-Out competition that lasts until midnight to raise awareness of this issue.  You can read about their Stay Up Late pool night here.
Fiifi at his pool compeition

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hate crime

Hate crime affects over 70% of people with learning disabilities and/or autism. It’s important that people across the sector work together to tackle it.

Two creative members, David and Stevie, created a short film called “STOP!” to raise awareness of hate crime against people with learning disabilities and/or autism. Stevie also composed a song which he performed at Brighton Disability Pride.

Accessibility for people with profound and multiple learning disabilities

C4C want to enable all people to be included and listened to, no matter their level of ability. People with profound and multiple learning disabilities are the most vulnerable in society and in most cases cannot speak up for themselves. Many assumptions are often made about people’s abilities and quality of life, however C4C members Samir, Frankie and Brad are proving everyone wrong. Samir, Frankie and Brad want to show that through removing barriers that people with profound and multiple learning disabilities face and with the right support, people are not only able to lead ordinary lives, but also contribute to society in a meaningful way.

Samir, Frankie and Brad held a workshop at the annual Learning Disability England conference to raise awareness of the challenges that people with profound and multiple learning disabilities face in their everyday life. They also helped create the short film ‘We Are People’ which they presented at the conference.

Samir and Frankie were also recognised as Leaders on the Learning Disability and Autism Leaders List 2019. Read their story here.

Trans rights

There are already many issues that transgender people face, and even more for transgender people who have learning disabilities. Victoria is campaigning to raise awareness of such issues, helping other people understand what it means to be transgender and advocating for equal rights and opportunities.

Local communities

Mary, Alex, Mark and Chris have all been working their hardest to make sure local councils are aware of important issues in their community.

Mary wrote a petition to get a pedestrian crossing on a local busy road, where people with disabilities, elderly people and school children were struggling to get to a bus stop. She collected over 100 signatures, video interviewed her neighbours and met with her MP. Mary has also been twice shortlisted as a finalist in the National Learning Disability and Autism Awards for this and other hard work in advocating for people. Mark and Chris wrote a petition to fix drains and potholes in their local area. They collected over 100 signatures and invited their MP to visit. Alex asked the council to fix a road leading up to two supported living homes. Thanks to his campaigning, the road was resurfaced.

 Wheel of Engagement Podcast

Wheel of Engagement is a person-centered, holistic, and co-produced framework for supporting adults with learning disabilities and/or autism used by Achieve together. This framework focuses on supporting people in all areas that are important to have a good quality, meaningful and fulfilled life. In this podcast, people with learning disabilities and autistic people from self-advocacy group Campaign 4 Change, co-production group Unity and their team members and peers get together to discuss a different theme of the Wheel of Engagement every month. You can listen to the podcasts here, and also watch Wheel of Engagement Podcast episodes with subtitles here.

 

Check out Campaign 4 Change (C4C) on social media below!

C4C Times 2019

See what C4C got up to last year.

C4C Times 2018

In their first newsletter, read about what C4C achieved in 2018.