We are in the middle of Learning Disability Week 2024, the theme being digital inclusion.
As many of you will know, in 2021, VIAS celebrated 50 years since the establishment of Campaign for the Mentally Handicapped (CMH) which later became Values Into Action UK. One of the primary purposes of CMH was to campaign for the closure of institutions (or sub normality hospitals as they were known as at that time) which, at the time, housed around 70,000 people with learning disabilities in the UK (7,842 people in Scotland alone).
Digitally this was an exciting decade with some important milestones occurring during that period.
1969 – Stanford and UCLA established the first computer link up between to different places
1971 – The first message was sent using @
1972 – Calculators were invented
1973 – The first handheld mobile phone was developed by Motorola
1974 – The first personal computer was developed
It sends a chill down my spine that a society so progressive as to make such technological advances could, at the same time, be capable of barbaric practices of locking people with learning disabilities away often in insanitary and inhumane conditions.
We know how things have moved on digitally since all those firsts of the 70s. We also know that many people with learning disabilities did indeed leave the institutions although it should be noted that 300 Scottish people remain in assessment and treatment units to this day.
In terms of technology, we were never more grateful than in the COVID pandemic of 2020 when, during lockdowns, technology became our only link to family and friends, to work and to health care. Yet again, we found that people with learning disabilities were (and continue to be) at the back of the queue in terms of digital inclusion. There are many reasons for this, some of which include: –
• Cost of internet access and mobile phone contracts
• Inaccessibility of devices and apps
• Nobody has taught people how to use technology
• Nobody supports people to use technology
• Friends are often digitally excluded too so there is no real incentive to use digital technology.
Let’s be honest, we could pick any topic relating to everyday lives and find that people with learning disabilities are most disadvantaged – health, relationships, employment, housing, the list goes on…… Being digitally competent plays a huge part in all the above for most people today.
Health – health apps, online medical appointments
Relationships – dating apps, online friendship groups
Employment – digital job applications, online banking
Housing – online housing repair booking, online mortgage applications.
As well as running and supporting events and activities this week, we decided that this was a good time to go back to basics to look inwardly as well as outwardly.
Yesterday, the amazing Heather Simmons facilitated the first of two sessions for VIAS staff. The aims of the sessions are: –
• To remind ourselves of the original purpose and intention of VIAS
• To remind ourselves of what we do and how we do it
• To offer some ideas that might shape how we go about our relationships with our colleagues and our work practices
• To consider any gaps there might be and what we can do to close them.
It is so important to take time to pause for thought. As Scotland emerges from the consultation period around the Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodivergence Bill, VIAS stands resolute in our commitment to being a broad church that welcomes all regardless of label and looks forward to being part of the much-needed change for Scotland. We also renew our commitment to ensuring that anything and everything that we do as an organisation puts people with learning disabilities at the heart of design, development, and delivery. If we can get support right for people with a learning disability, then we get support right for everyone.
When CMH was established in 1971, equal participation and people telling their own stories was as much part of the DNA of the organisation as was their mission. Their 1972 conference Our Lives was groundbreaking and played a huge part in the development of the strong self-advocacy movement that we see today. We thank Heather for helping us to reflect on this and to celebrate the fact that equal participation is as strong in VIAS now as it was in CMH and that together, we will achieve the change that is long overdue and very much deserved.
– Norma Curran, CEO, Values Into Action Scotland