January 20, 2025 • 17 mins
People with a learning disability have a right to live in the community with everyone else and make choices about the way they live. So this week, The Advocacy Fellows talk about all things housing as Angie tells the rest of the Fellows the positives and negatives of living in her own place.
Recording courtesy of KMF Radio and Events.
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Discover Voices (c) 2023, a production by registered charity, disAbility Cornwall & Isles of Scilly
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:07):
We are
The Advocacy Fellows voicing for
and empowering young adults with learning
disabilities.
[Jack] Hello and welcome once againto the latest edition
(00:30):
of The Advocacy Fellows podcast.
Now feel at home.
We are heros voicing and empoweringyoung adults learning disabilities.
[Angie] This week we wanted to talk aboutthe future is scary
for people with learning disabilitiesto think about moving
(00:50):
out of home.
But it's something that we all comeacross.
[Jack] I agree with Angie.
Make sure you like and subscribeand search for The Advocacy Fellows again.
There are lots of feelings for a personwith learning disabilities
who may experience, who want
(01:14):
to share our thoughts
and feelings today.
MENCAP has worked with
the Voices Council which is a group
of young people with learning disabilitieswho share their views
on the experienceto build Mencap strategies and campaigns.
(01:37):
They have a current campaign to address
housing for people with learningdisabilities, which we share with you.
[Jack] That's really brilliant, Angie.
So first question is what should happen?
What should happen to people at home as
(01:57):
it was a learning disability
have a right to live in the communitywith everyone else
and make choices about the way they live.
They should be able to choose
whether they live and who they live with.
They should be get supportto make this choice.
(02:22):
They need it and they can get support
from a social worker or support worker,all someone they trust.
What's happening now?
People with learning disability
are not always being given that choice.
(02:44):
It can be hard for peopleto find somewhere
good to livewhere they can get the right support.
There is not
enough safe and stable housing available.
Money is not there and support costsa lot of money.
(03:04):
Many people with learning disability
do not get to choose where they live.
Some people live in hospitalsor places far away from the people know.
[Jack] I like that bitwhen you talked about that.
But we want government -
what MENCAP wants to happen.
(03:27):
So we want people with disabilityto have real choice
about where they liveand who they live with.
We want people with disabilityto feel happy and safe
in where they live.
We want governments meets that promiseto reduce the numbers of people
(03:51):
with the disability, the autistic people,
like us, in in-patient
mental health hospitals by 50%.
Half.
We want people,more people, safe and suitable
housing to be provided in the communityfor people with learning disabilities.
(04:18):
Once again, we want people with disability
to happy and healthy lives.
This means
that they should be able
yes, in getting the right support
to make important decisionsabout their lives.
We want safe and suitablehousing and support
(04:41):
to properly fund this by the government.
Hi this is Jack of course, once again,
nice have you with us of at home,instead of living with my mum and dad.
I would like to live with my friendsin the future.
Reasonwhy i’d like to live with my friends
(05:02):
because they make me laughand be nice to me.
[Melissa] Hi,my name is Melissa and I live at home.
[Jamie] Hi.
My name is Jamie. And.
And I like to live
(05:23):
on my own independent terms with
both boys and girls.
because it would be more suitable for me.
[Angie] Okay.
So as from the first December,I moved out to a beautiful place
(05:46):
called Goonhavern, and
it was quite petrifying to start with.
But as I got better at it,
I done loads
more than possibly imagined.
(06:07):
It was just a loads of friends and
and it's really a community spiritthat we wanted to bring forward.
From where I live, as I said, earlier,
I fell petrified to start with, but
(06:32):
as long as
you find out who your neighbours
are going to beand if one of your neighbours
is a friend of yours,then that makes it even better.
On the first day, I remember ballingmy eyes out and just like
I wasn't so sure what
(06:54):
to do on the first day,
but then day by day it got better.
And then
better and better.
and it continued to become more better
as the days, weeks, months go on.
(07:17):
And I've been in my new home
for six months now I believe,
and the experience
that you get with this is just incredible.
Honestly. It's incredible.
I know I've actually got my own house
which is incredible,but they're like attached houses.
(07:41):
So there like neighbour
to the next, the next and the next
and there's like several houses.
I had a lot of help from my parents,
thank God, and support workers.
They're just
(08:03):
such a brilliant team.
I mean, I have a team of severalbeautiful women
who really helped me outwith everything and anything
is possible.
Impossible, maybe slightly impossible,
maybe slightly possible.
(08:25):
But yeah,
that's
a little bit more about my new home.
And yeah, does anybody have any questions?
This is the question
that Angie, why are you feeling
so petrified?
(08:49):
It was just a genuine they start with
at the moment I'm,
but as they got better
I didn't feel so scared anymore.
I always thought
that Hey, living on my own could be cool.
But there are a few things I do miss
(09:12):
My family
parts,
just genuinely being with them
and just Doing what needs doing,
you know, on that day,
the amount of space I get to do
whatever I want. How?
(09:35):
that's a very good question. I'm
My advice
to anyone who may be moving outwould be Don't be afraid.
You can do it.
It may not be easy.
But look,
(09:56):
if someone you know, is
already moved out, you can do it, too.
Because
even if they're your next doorneighbour in the future,
you'll never know.
but there are times
where you would feel petrified.
(10:16):
There are times where you feel like,okay, so reality is really sticking in
now I'm in my new home. Now
it takes time and patienceto be able to move your stuff in.
At first,
but as soon as you get your stuff
in, you can make your house your own
(10:39):
If you wanted to.
You can even show up with a better colour.
You could even put little cute
little wild sticker thingys on.
It can even
create your own mood set like I have.
(10:59):
I think it's best if I go wild,
but creative and calm.
So that's the sort of,
as I put it to myself, I
was like, Look,I want a nice comfy feeling,
but then I want to make sureit's a little bit wild at the same time as
(11:20):
well.
For one thing, I'm crazy as it already is,
and secondly, I could be as calm as a
as a gentle ocean wave any day.
So yeah, [Melissa]Would you live with your boyfriend?
boyfriend?
(11:43):
How can you tell I have/haven’t
got one to start with!?
Maybe some day, but, like,
not as of yet.
Yeah.
Have to clean the bathroom!
(12:04):
Because I've never clean bathroom before.
And yeah, it's just
honestly one of the best thingsthat could ever happen.
I moving out and
get your own space.
You get to do things in your own time.
(12:25):
You get to
find some new skills.
You can,
I dunno, do what you want.
Have you decidedwhat colour your room is yet?
Have you decided any colours?
(12:47):
And so downstairs
I've got so blue screens, so a vibe.
And then like in my kitchenI've got like mostly whites
but like a pop of red
and then like in my guest room,
(13:07):
i’m going blue and white
and then in my bedroom I've got adusky pink, which is really nice,
and I've got like tropical bird bed sets.
But that sets
(13:30):
so that's my colour palette.
My house.
And just quickly,
one questionthat I would like to ask you, is...
When you had the opportunity
to move into your own house,for those of us that haven't yet,
(13:53):
for instance, moved into the room place,but by looking to
what was your experiencewith looking at your new home?
So did you go and see lots of differenthouses before you moved into this one?
Did you have lots of support in deciding
what you thought would be right for youmoving into this house?
(14:16):
Could you tell me a little bitabout your experience and what you kind of
decided was best for youand the support that you had around you
to help you make that decision?
This is the housethat you wanted to live in.
that is a very, very good question.
To be honest,
(14:39):
the help I got was like
up there and
I felt stupidly nervous at times, but
when,
you know, for our company,may I suggest green light?
(14:59):
It's a very good company with
people with disabilities,
particularly autism
or any of a disabilities like that.
So that team of people are like
absolutely brilliant.
(15:22):
I think Jamie would fit
in quite well
with this.
I honestly do think it fit in quite well.
because we need to
have another full house,
I guess because there is one empty
(15:45):
at the moment, but I'm not quite surewho's gonna move into that.
But I think you oryour brother would quite suit
this communityspirit quite well [Jack] I’ve
never thought about that!
[Angie] Because also
(16:09):
I, get to go
out, youget to see what's going on in the world.
You get to just dowhat you want to do with who you with
which have a staff member is thereto help you out with those things.
You see [Jack] Now for your viewersat home would like to know...
(16:30):
did you put any wallpaperaround your room of the flat or house?
[Angie] No,
I didn't actually, but I quite liked it.
Like I recently worked on some art, so
I might put that up
(16:53):
Yeah, basically the answer is no.
[Jack] While for viewers at home would say
what's interesting podcast we had today
certainly many different views
on how we feel about the future.
I feel questions there, a huge
thank you to all the advocacy fellows
(17:15):
including Nick our recorderfor sharing their thoughts and feelings
[Angie] A bigthank you to Nick at KMF Radio, as always
he has been amazing at helping us produceour podcasts as they are.
Thank you.
Thank you to everyone at homefor listening to our podcast.
(17:37):
And until next time then.
Goodbye!
We are
The Advocacy Fellows voicing for
and empowering young adults with learning
disabilities.
[Jack] Hello and welcome once againto the latest edition
(00:30):
of The Advocacy Fellows podcast.
Now feel at home.
We are heros voicing and empoweringyoung adults learning disabilities.
[Angie] This week we wanted to talk aboutthe future is scary
for people with learning disabilitiesto think about moving
(00:50):
out of home.
But it's something that we all comeacross.
[Jack] I agree with Angie.
Make sure you like and subscribeand search for The Advocacy Fellows again.
There are lots of feelings for a personwith learning disabilities
who may experience, who want
(01:14):
to share our thoughts
and feelings today.
MENCAP has worked with
the Voices Council which is a group
of young people with learning disabilitieswho share their views
on the experienceto build Mencap strategies and campaigns.
(01:37):
They have a current campaign to address
housing for people with learningdisabilities, which we share with you.
[Jack] That's really brilliant, Angie.
So first question is what should happen?
What should happen to people at home as
(01:57):
it was a learning disability
have a right to live in the communitywith everyone else
and make choices about the way they live.
They should be able to choose
whether they live and who they live with.
They should be get supportto make this choice.
(02:22):
They need it and they can get support
from a social worker or support worker,all someone they trust.
What's happening now?
People with learning disability
are not always being given that choice.
(02:44):
It can be hard for peopleto find somewhere
good to livewhere they can get the right support.
There is not
enough safe and stable housing available.
Money is not there and support costsa lot of money.
(03:04):
Many people with learning disability
do not get to choose where they live.
Some people live in hospitalsor places far away from the people know.
[Jack] I like that bitwhen you talked about that.
But we want government -
what MENCAP wants to happen.
(03:27):
So we want people with disabilityto have real choice
about where they liveand who they live with.
We want people with disabilityto feel happy and safe
in where they live.
We want governments meets that promiseto reduce the numbers of people
(03:51):
with the disability, the autistic people,
like us, in in-patient
mental health hospitals by 50%.
Half.
We want people,more people, safe and suitable
housing to be provided in the communityfor people with learning disabilities.
(04:18):
Once again, we want people with disability
to happy and healthy lives.
This means
that they should be able
yes, in getting the right support
to make important decisionsabout their lives.
We want safe and suitablehousing and support
(04:41):
to properly fund this by the government.
Hi this is Jack of course, once again,
nice have you with us of at home,instead of living with my mum and dad.
I would like to live with my friendsin the future.
Reasonwhy i’d like to live with my friends
(05:02):
because they make me laughand be nice to me.
[Melissa] Hi,my name is Melissa and I live at home.
[Jamie] Hi.
My name is Jamie. And.
And I like to live
(05:23):
on my own independent terms with
both boys and girls.
because it would be more suitable for me.
[Angie] Okay.
So as from the first December,I moved out to a beautiful place
(05:46):
called Goonhavern, and
it was quite petrifying to start with.
But as I got better at it,
I done loads
more than possibly imagined.
(06:07):
It was just a loads of friends and
and it's really a community spiritthat we wanted to bring forward.
From where I live, as I said, earlier,
I fell petrified to start with, but
(06:32):
as long as
you find out who your neighbours
are going to beand if one of your neighbours
is a friend of yours,then that makes it even better.
On the first day, I remember ballingmy eyes out and just like
I wasn't so sure what
(06:54):
to do on the first day,
but then day by day it got better.
And then
better and better.
and it continued to become more better
as the days, weeks, months go on.
(07:17):
And I've been in my new home
for six months now I believe,
and the experience
that you get with this is just incredible.
Honestly. It's incredible.
I know I've actually got my own house
which is incredible,but they're like attached houses.
(07:41):
So there like neighbour
to the next, the next and the next
and there's like several houses.
I had a lot of help from my parents,
thank God, and support workers.
They're just
(08:03):
such a brilliant team.
I mean, I have a team of severalbeautiful women
who really helped me outwith everything and anything
is possible.
Impossible, maybe slightly impossible,
maybe slightly possible.
(08:25):
But yeah,
that's
a little bit more about my new home.
And yeah, does anybody have any questions?
This is the question
that Angie, why are you feeling
so petrified?
(08:49):
It was just a genuine they start with
at the moment I'm,
but as they got better
I didn't feel so scared anymore.
I always thought
that Hey, living on my own could be cool.
But there are a few things I do miss
(09:12):
My family
parts,
just genuinely being with them
and just Doing what needs doing,
you know, on that day,
the amount of space I get to do
whatever I want. How?
(09:35):
that's a very good question. I'm
My advice
to anyone who may be moving outwould be Don't be afraid.
You can do it.
It may not be easy.
But look,
(09:56):
if someone you know, is
already moved out, you can do it, too.
Because
even if they're your next doorneighbour in the future,
you'll never know.
but there are times
where you would feel petrified.
(10:16):
There are times where you feel like,okay, so reality is really sticking in
now I'm in my new home. Now
it takes time and patienceto be able to move your stuff in.
At first,
but as soon as you get your stuff
in, you can make your house your own
(10:39):
If you wanted to.
You can even show up with a better colour.
You could even put little cute
little wild sticker thingys on.
It can even
create your own mood set like I have.
(10:59):
I think it's best if I go wild,
but creative and calm.
So that's the sort of,
as I put it to myself, I
was like, Look,I want a nice comfy feeling,
but then I want to make sureit's a little bit wild at the same time as
(11:20):
well.
For one thing, I'm crazy as it already is,
and secondly, I could be as calm as a
as a gentle ocean wave any day.
So yeah, [Melissa]Would you live with your boyfriend?
boyfriend?
(11:43):
How can you tell I have/haven’t
got one to start with!?
Maybe some day, but, like,
not as of yet.
Yeah.
Have to clean the bathroom!
(12:04):
Because I've never clean bathroom before.
And yeah, it's just
honestly one of the best thingsthat could ever happen.
I moving out and
get your own space.
You get to do things in your own time.
(12:25):
You get to
find some new skills.
You can,
I dunno, do what you want.
Have you decidedwhat colour your room is yet?
Have you decided any colours?
(12:47):
And so downstairs
I've got so blue screens, so a vibe.
And then like in my kitchenI've got like mostly whites
but like a pop of red
and then like in my guest room,
(13:07):
i’m going blue and white
and then in my bedroom I've got adusky pink, which is really nice,
and I've got like tropical bird bed sets.
But that sets
(13:30):
so that's my colour palette.
My house.
And just quickly,
one questionthat I would like to ask you, is...
When you had the opportunity
to move into your own house,for those of us that haven't yet,
(13:53):
for instance, moved into the room place,but by looking to
what was your experiencewith looking at your new home?
So did you go and see lots of differenthouses before you moved into this one?
Did you have lots of support in deciding
what you thought would be right for youmoving into this house?
(14:16):
Could you tell me a little bitabout your experience and what you kind of
decided was best for youand the support that you had around you
to help you make that decision?
This is the housethat you wanted to live in.
that is a very, very good question.
To be honest,
(14:39):
the help I got was like
up there and
I felt stupidly nervous at times, but
when,
you know, for our company,may I suggest green light?
(14:59):
It's a very good company with
people with disabilities,
particularly autism
or any of a disabilities like that.
So that team of people are like
absolutely brilliant.
(15:22):
I think Jamie would fit
in quite well
with this.
I honestly do think it fit in quite well.
because we need to
have another full house,
I guess because there is one empty
(15:45):
at the moment, but I'm not quite surewho's gonna move into that.
But I think you oryour brother would quite suit
this communityspirit quite well [Jack] I’ve
never thought about that!
[Angie] Because also
(16:09):
I, get to go
out, youget to see what's going on in the world.
You get to just dowhat you want to do with who you with
which have a staff member is thereto help you out with those things.
You see [Jack] Now for your viewersat home would like to know...
(16:30):
did you put any wallpaperaround your room of the flat or house?
[Angie] No,
I didn't actually, but I quite liked it.
Like I recently worked on some art, so
I might put that up
(16:53):
Yeah, basically the answer is no.
[Jack] While for viewers at home would say
what's interesting podcast we had today
certainly many different views
on how we feel about the future.
I feel questions there, a huge
thank you to all the advocacy fellows
(17:15):
including Nick our recorderfor sharing their thoughts and feelings
[Angie] A bigthank you to Nick at KMF Radio, as always
he has been amazing at helping us produceour podcasts as they are.
Thank you.
Thank you to everyone at homefor listening to our podcast.
(17:37):
And until next time then.
Goodbye!
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