When we launched Learning Disability England we awarded lifetime memberships to 8 self-advocates who had inspired us. We've been interviewing them so we can get to know them better!
Here's our first interview with Shaun Webster MBE, International Project Worker at CHANGE.
Shaun at Conservative Party Conference in 2014 (with Gary in the background!)
How did you become a
self-advocate?
Before I because a
self-advocate I was working in another job and my friend told me that there was
a job going at CHANGE. Because I live in a KeyRing network I had experience
promoting KeyRing to different people. Because I had experience doing that, that
helped me to get the job at CHANGE.
If you could change one
thing that would make life better for people with learning disabilities, what
would it be?
Attitudes. Because some
people and the media think people with learning disabilities are lazy or
spongers but we’re not. We’re hard-working people and we want the opportunity
to have a job like everybody else. And I think people with learning disabilities should maybe go
to schools and talk about themselves – we’re just people like everybody else.
We’ve got jobs, we’re living on our own, we’re part of the community. We’re
human beings just like you – we’re not different.
What needs to happen for
people with learning disabilities to have good homes?
What we need is a choice of
what home we get. We need to be included in deciding what kind of home we want,
where we want to live – because we want to have a choice. If you’ve got
different disability needs or need support then you need these things to help
you live independently.
If you need support workers
you need the opportunity to choose your support worker and they need to listen
to you and make sure you’re included in everything.
What does supported living mean to you?
I live in a KeyRing
network. I’ve been living with KeyRing for over 15 years. At first I had a lot
of support. I used to live in a flat before that – my brother used to live with
me but he did everything for me. My brother wasn’t being bad; he just thought I
would struggle with things. Moving to KeyRing was a big change. I wasn’t very
independent and what changed that was a fantastic support worker who did an
action plan for me about things I needed support on. Over time I became more
confident in doing them for myself. Then I supported other people to do these
things when they moved into KeyRing, like peer support. And then the
people I supported could support me too! It was a win win!
I’m supported on my terms.
When I need support I get it and when I don’t I don’t
Why do you think it’s
important for people with learning disabilities, families and organisations to
work together?
I think it’s very important
to include families because I feel sometimes families get left out. Families
need to know what’s happening so they can support people. But sometimes they
get forgotten.
If you could say one thing
to all of our member organisations, what would it be?
The one thing is always
include people with learning disabilities. Make sure people with learning
disabilities are employed and make sure they are in control. And not just that,
make sure they are living independently and have control over their lives.
Companies need to think about that.
Employment and living
independently are linked together. Being employed gives you power. And when
people are employed and live independently they can inspire other.
What do you think is the
biggest challenge for LDE?
There are two actually.
Attitudes and money. Attitudes and funding can
make it difficult for people with learning disabilities to live independently
and be employed.
What are your hopes for
LDE?
My hopes are people with
learning disabilities will be able to be more a part of the community, be
treated the same, be respected and to get proper paid jobs, not tokenistic
jobs.
I think schools need to
take people with learning disabilities more seriously if people with learning
disabilities are going to achieve decent jobs. Schools don’t ask people with
learning disabilities what jobs they want. I think people like myself who have
jobs could go into schools and talk about that. Be role models.
Another barrier is the media.
I hope LDE can show the media that people with learning disabilities are not
benefit scroungers. We want people to stop feeling sorry for us.
What’s your advice to other self-advocates who
want to speak up?
I’m doing a project at the
moment about mentoring. Mentoring is to improve people with learning
disabilities’ confidence in speaking up for themselves. People should think
about doing mentoring – it will give people like myself a real opportunity to
speak up. It builds their confidence, self-belief, gives them a voice and helps
them to be a part of the workplace.
Tell us about a time when
you’ve spoken up and something has changed.
I was in London earlier
this year and I had a meeting with chemists – I did a talk about having a bad
experience with chemists. When I went to pick up my medication it was new and I
couldn’t read the information. I asked the person at the desk to read the info
for me and they said no. they were very rude to me and I had to go and see the
nurse.
I talked about at this meeting
about making information more accessible for people with learning disabilities
and I felt this made a difference. When I use my life experience it breaks down
barriers. And then people do take notice.
