Manager Janine and team members from Upper Selsdon Road are closely involved with the charity ‘Stay Up Late’. ‘Stay Up Late’ advocates for people with learning disabilities to have the right to stay up late and have some fun!
They’ve been running Stay Up Late events since 2018 and hold a themed event every month at Frames Sports Bar in Coulsdon where the whole venue is set aside just for Stay Up Late.
One of the people supported at Upper Selsdon Road is also an ambassador for Stay Up Late and recently raised more awareness of their charity through a piece on the Guardian online which you can read below.
Adults with learning disabilities should be able to go out and stay up late
We are a group of campaigners from around the UK who all have a learning disability and/or autism. As lockdown restrictions ease and pubs and other venues begin to reopen, we want to make sure that adults with learning disabilities are not left behind.
We know of some great support providers who have flexible staff rotas, meaning that people with learning disabilities can be supported to live the lives they choose – including going out and staying up late.
Sadly, we also see lots of examples where support is inflexible. Before lockdown you could go to any club night for people with learning disabilities and watch the dance floor empty at 9pm. The Big Bedtime Audit found that at 8.30pm on a typical Friday evening, 69% of people with learning disabilities were either in bed or ready for bed. Only 7% were actually out.
We believe that support should be flexible so that people with learning disabilities can decide what time they go to bed. We have been writing to every local authority social care director in the country to ask them to make sure that all the support providers they sign contracts with operate flexible rotas.
We are also asking everyone to contact their own local councillors, too. Please support our campaign for No Bedtimes!
