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Speak Up and Make a Difference
Speak Up and Make a Difference course underway
(1st October 2008)
Dimensions' innovative development programme for people with a learning disability, Speak Up and make a Difference, is now successfully underway. Course students have attended their first workshop, focusing on key communication skills including listening, networking and body language. Each student now has learning objectives from the course to take away and work on with their mentor.
One student, Darren Lynch, put his listening skills in to practice when speaking to a journalist about the course this week. Darren, who is being mentored by Dimensions' Chief Executive David Wolverson, said: "The course is teaching me to listen and not interrupt, so that other people can have their say".
The second workshop, Governance, will take place in early November.
What is 'Speak up and make a difference' about?
Times are changing for people with learning disabilities as the balance of power shifts back to the person, putting them in control of their lives. Our aim is that this course will give the attendees the confidence to 'speak up and make a difference' for themselves, but also for others. Over forty people we support applied for the course, and all were invited to selection days where they sat an informal interview. The twenty attendees, chosen by a panel including a person with a learning difficulty then completed a 360 degree questionnaire, so that they could each be paired up with a mentor. The scheme was launched on 3rd September with a series of monthly core workshops to follow.
Jackie Fletcher, Director of Continuous Improvement for Dimensions, said: "We are running this course because we hope to establish a 'Council' in March 2009, made up of the people we support, who will directly advise our board on learning disability issues. This course will ensure that the people elected on to the council have the correct skills to be able to speak up and make a difference."