MPs urged to 'walk in the shoes' of people with learning disabilities
A charity is calling on the public to use social media to urge the Prime Minister to take a walk in the shoes of people with learning disabilities.
Hft, a national charity supporting adults with learning disabilities, is using a crowd-sharing platform to launch a campaign facilitating opportunities for people with learning disabilities to share their concerns and help shape future policy decisions.
Walk in our Shoes was launched with a Thunderclap appeal urging Theresa May to encourage MPs to spend time with people with a learning disability. It will see tweets sent flash-mob style simultaneously from hundreds of accounts.
Walk in our Shoes has been led by the charity’s speak-out group, Voices to be Heard, who don’t feel that their hopes and concerns are given the same attention as those of people without disabilities by political leaders.
Billy Davis, Hft’s Public Affairs and Policy Manager, said that he hopes the campaign will capture the attention of the Prime Minister.
“Theresa May is well known for her love of shoes. But we think it’s time she tried on a new pair for size,” he said.
“As a social care provider, we’ve seen that the voice of people with learning disabilities is often overlooked, even when social care is part of the debate. The upcoming Green Paper on social care, only focusses on the elderly, and learning disabilities have seemingly been sidelined into a parallel body of work, despite accounting for a third of social care sector spend.”
“That’s why the people we support and Hft are calling on politicians to spend time with people with a learning disability, and hear what life is like for them. Who better to help shape the future of policy than those whose lives will be directly affected?”
Issues ranging from public toilet access to funding cuts are amongst the concerns that members of Voices to be Heard have said they’d like to raise with their local MP.
One of those members is Becky who is concerned about funding cuts and hate crime.
Becky said: “I do not think that the government listens to people with learning disabilities. We have opinions on what matters to us and we want to be heard. This is why we have started the ‘Walk In Our Shoes’ campaign. Please sign up to our Thunderclap and ask politicians to take a day and walk in our shoes and see what a person with different complex needs has to deal with on a day-to-day basis.”
More information about the campaign can be found on Hft’s website: https://www.hft.org.uk/get-involved/campaigns/walk-in-our-shoes/
