James Fletcher says people with learning disabilities should be involved in how their support groups are run

This week marks learning disability Week (16th- 20th May). This is a welcome opportunity for people and organisations to join together to recognise the many achievements of people with learning disabilities in Scotland. This year’s theme is Celebrating Success and a whole host of events and campaigns are planned to raise awareness, share information and celebrate achievements.

A notable example of this success is the ‘Charter for Involvement’. This is unique in Scotland as it’s written by people with learning disabilities, setting out in their own words how they want to be involved in how their support services are run. The Charter has twelve statements that show what matters to people most and how they want to live their lives. They include ‘We have the right to live our lives independently’, ‘We must be involved in our communities’ and ‘We must be at the heart of any plans about our lives’.

The Charter was written by members of the National Involvement Network, a group of over 80 people with learning disabilities and other support needs who have been meeting since 2006. It took over two years to write and since it was launched in 2015, members have become passionate advocates for the Charter, working hard to promote it to senior executives of social care organisations across Scotland.

Since it was published last January, the chief executives of 29 support organisations of all sizes have signed up to the Charter- and more join every month. By doing so, they are making a formal commitment to work with the people they support to put it into practice. We know this is already helping people who receive support to be more empowered, have a greater awareness of their rights and be more listened to and respected.

We also know the Charter helps organisations to have a better understanding of their customers’ needs and, despite the challenging financial climate, to make the changes needed to put people at the heart of their support. The chief executive of one voluntary sector organisation told us: "We have always seen involving the people we support as absolutely essential to what we do, but sometimes we miss things and can become complacent. When we looked at the Charter we recognised that there were certain things should be done that we weren’t doing. We realised we needed to do better because of the Charter.”

Practical changes that organisations have made include people being involved in choosing their support staff

Some of the practical changes that organisations have made because of the Charter include people being involved in choosing their support staff, more ‘person-centred’ approaches to support planning being adopted, supported people becoming members of management boards and committees and delivering training to staff.

Members of the National Involvement Network are also working to make the Charter more accessible for people with communication difficulties and more complex support needs. This includes making a short animated film that brings the characters that illustrate the Charter to life, and working with Talking Mats, to develop picture symbols to help people think about and express their views.

At the Association for Real Change (ARC Scotland) we firmly believe that people with learning disabilities should be involved in how their support organisations are planned and run- and that doing this helps make those services better. With funds from the Scottish Government, we support the National Involvement Network to promote and develop the Charter for Involvement. Their aim is to have 100 organisations signed up to it over the next two years.

This would be another huge achievement in what is already a remarkable success story. So, to mark learning disability week I would like to encourage all organisations that plan or deliver support for people with learning disabilities (or any other support need) to consider adopting the Charter for Involvement and empower the people you support to have a bigger say in the decisions that affect them.

James Fletcher is director of ARC Scotland