Our Trip to the 2025 Learning Disability England Conference

On March 5th, we had the amazing opportunity to attend the Learning Disability England (LDE) conference in Manchester. Karen, Casper, and Katie headed up the day before to prepare for a full day of learning and discussions. The conference brought together people with learning disabilities, family members, carers, and professionals from all kinds of organisations, all working towards a more inclusive future.

The setup was highly interactive, with different rooms offering various ways to engage before and between workshops.

One of the first stops was the Good Lives Framework Manifesto pledge room. Attendees wrote personal pledges about how they could support better lives for people with learning disabilities in their workplaces and communities. Photos were taken of participants holding their pledges, which were later displayed around the event.

Another room hosted NHS Benchmarking representatives who shared details about a survey for families and carers of people with learning disabilities who had recently been in hospital. Upstairs, the Self Advocate Cinema showcased powerful films made by and about people with learning disabilities.

The conference kicked off with two really powerful presentations:

• The first one highlighted the challenges faced by people with learning disabilities from ethnic minority backgrounds. It was eye-opening to see how being part of two minority groups can make things even harder and how we need to do more to address these issues.
• The second was from a woman with a learning disability who co-wrote The Keys to Citizenship. She worked with an experienced writer to bring this book to life, explaining seven key things that help people be included in their communities, like having a home, money, and a sense of purpose.

Karen and Katie then split up to attend different workshops so they could cover more ground:

Karen's Workshops:

• Campaign for Change – Tree of a Good Life: This session used a tree as a way of explaining how we can create lasting, positive change in social care and society.
• U-Night Group – Building Relationships and Connections: This was all about making sure people with learning disabilities have the same chances to build relationships as everyone else and tackling the attitudes that sometimes get in the way.

Katie's Workshops:

• IMPOWER – Making Strength-Based Practice Real: This session focused on the power of language. A lot of the time, reports and assessments use quite negative wording, which can feel impersonal and even dehumanising. Strength-based practice flips that around, using positive language to focus on people's potential.
• Skills for Care – A Workforce Strategy in Social Care: This was all about recruiting, training, and keeping staff in social care. While the strategy itself wasn't co-produced, they were open to ideas from the room, which was great to see.

There were some really fun and inspiring moments, too! During lunch, they got to watch Leaping Frogs, an inclusive band, perform some well-known songs. It was such a brilliant example of how people with learning disabilities can absolutely shine in the arts.

Later, they joined a session with Dance Syndrome, a co-produced dance organisation. One of their members performed a solo dance, and his mum spoke about how being part of Dance Syndrome has completely transformed his life. Then, they got the whole audience up on their feet to learn some moves!

Everyone left feeling really inspired. Karen was amazed at how many people were there. The room was absolutely packed! For Katie, the biggest takeaway was how much progress is being made with co-production. We must keep using our voices to make sure people listen and don't forget about us.

This trip wouldn't have been possible without the support of the Friends of Aldingbourne. Thanks to them, the team was able to experience so much, bring back loads of ideas, and get inspired for the future. Hopefully, there'll be more opportunities like this to come!

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By becoming a Friend of Aldingbourne, you can help create more enriching experiences for the people we support. The Friends fund social events, Christmas meals, entertainment, and fundraising and grant applications to ensure the people we support have amazing opportunities, just like this conference. 🔗 https://www.aldingbournetrust.org/friends.html