World Autism Acceptance Week 2024 is being held from 2nd to 8th April, with Tuesday 2nd April also being designated as World Autism Awareness Day. The international awareness week helps to improve awareness, raise vital funds, breakdown barriers and tackle discrimination. The National Autistic Society encourages schools, workplaces and local communities to get involved,...
Neurodiversity Celebration Week 2024 celebrates different minds
Neurodiversity Celebration Week is observed from 18th-24th March 2024 in the UK. The awareness week is actually a worldwide initiative that celebrates neurological differences and challenges stereotypes and negative misconceptions surrounding them to change the way learning disabilities and neurodivergent individuals are perceived. Neurodiversity Celebration Week encourages schools, universities and organisations to consider the...
One million people complete Oliver McGowan eLearning
Over one million people have now completed the e-learning segment of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism. The “significant milestone” comes one year after the Oliver McGowan e-learning package was launched and seven years after Oliver’s tragic death in November 2016. The e-learning programme, which forms the first part of...
People with learning disabilities face ‘widespread risks’ in hospital
A health watchdog has found that people with learning disabilities face “persistent and widespread” risks to their safety in hospital. The Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) reviewed the care that people with learning disabilities receive and found that their safety is often compromised when they are admitted to hospitals in England. The HSSIB...
Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training ‘vitally important’
NHS England have developed a powerful video animation to help the health and social care workforce understand the importance of the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training package. It has been made available as the Department of Health and Social Care runs a consultation on its draft code of practice for the training. The Oliver McGowan...
CQC focuses on learning disability care during the pandemic
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has released its latest insight report, which focuses on care provided for people with a learning disability during the Covid-19 pandemic. Ahead of the publication of their provider collaboration review (PCR) on people with a learning disability living in the community this month (July 2021), England’s care watchdog has...
Children with SEND disproportionately affected by pandemic
A new report from Ofsted has revealed that children and young people with special education needs and disabilities (SEND) have been disproportionately affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The report contains the findings of joint visits made to local areas by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) during the autumn term of 2020 and...
Mencap report reveals Covid-19 inequalities for people with learning disabilities
A new report from Mencap has revealed the “shockingly high health inequalities” faced by people with a learning disability during the Covid-19 pandemic. The report, entitled ‘My Health, My Life: Barriers to healthcare for people with a learning disability during the pandemic’, reveals a number of failings and highlights shocking figures which show that...