From the 15th - 21st June we are celebrating Learning Disability Week. The campaign takes place once a year to raise awareness and show support to those with learning disabilities.
The theme for this year’s campaign is ‘the importance of friendship during lockdown’. Sadly, due to the coronavirus, everyone is living in lockdown and facing challenges daily. People with learning disabilities are currently feeling very isolated and are experiencing high levels of loneliness as they are unable to see their friends and family.
For this campaign, Mencap wants to show how important friendship is and how it can help with tackling isolation and also explore different and new ways of maintaining and growing friendships during lockdown.
What is a learning disability?
Mencap's definition of a learning disability is:
‘A learning disability is a reduced intellectual ability and difficulty with everyday activities – for example household tasks, socialising or managing money – which affects someone for their whole life.
People with a learning disability tend to take longer to learn and may need support to develop new skills, understand complicated information and interact with other people.’
How can you get involved?
For Learning Disability Week, Mencap wants to celebrate the incredible connections and friendships that make up their #Mencapfamily. They also want to show how important and meaningful these friendships have been during lockdown.
Whether you're supporting someone you know from Mencap, a family member, or a friend, you can get involved by giving them a shout out using the #Mencapfamily on social media.
If you have a story to share or any tips about keeping strong friendships during lockdown, you can share them with Mencap by contacting them on reallifestories@mencap.or.uk
At Thornbury Community Services, we are getting involved with the campaign and showing our support on social media. Throughout the week we will be sharing a variety of content and articles about Learning Disability Week. To keep up to date with what we’re up to, follow our LinkedIn and Facebook pages.