Tag Archives: special needs
Easy News: an extract on the Winterbourne View abuse scandal
A newspaper by and for people with learning disabilities
Care home abuse exposed
In 2011 the BBC showed a programme called Panorama which upset a lot of people.
It showed people with learning disabilities being abused by care workers in a private hospital.
The hospital was called Winterbourne View. After the programme, it was investigated by the police.
In 2012, 11 care workers were put on trial to decide if they were guilty of crimes.
Six care workers have now gone to jail.
Five others have been given suspended sentences. This means they do not go to prison unless they get into trouble again.
The Judge said that if the BBC had not shown the abuse, the staff would have carried on being cruel.
It’s parents and carers’ turn to relax
PARENTS of children with special needs can now relax in a revamped space.
Charity Hop, Skip and Jump has converted one of its outbuildings at Seven Springs into a relaxation area for parents and carers.
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REVAMP: Jeanette Bates, Hop Skip and Jump funding manager, Marc Johnson, centre supervisor, Richard Rawlings, Quays centre manager, Rebecca Jeal, Quays marketing assistant and charity and community co-ordinator with after school club users Alex Jaya and Reece
The charity will be offering holistic therapies, reflexology, head and body massage to mums, dads and carers. The revamp was carried out by staff at Gloucester Quays with new furniture donated by Next.
Emma Minett, care supervisor, said: “The new space offers parents who drop their children off the chance to relax and get respite care.
“We provide flexible and immediate care so parents can drop their children off at any point, but the centre so far has been geared up for the children and so we wanted to provide something for the parents.
“It will provide a space where they can speak to each other and have a coffee.”
The charity hosted a party on Wednesday to open the space.
http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk
Mencap welcomes Government SEN proposals
Learning disability charity Mencap has welcomed the Government’s publication of draft provisions to improve the support for children and young people with special educational needs (SEN).
by Dan Parton (Editor) on September 5, 2012 in News
The new publication follows on from the Government’s proposals to reform provision for children and young people with SEN in the green paper Support and Aspiration, published in March 2011, and the subsequent Next Steps document published in May 2012.
These new draft provisions provide for:
- A new duty for joint commissioning which will require local authorities and health bodies to take joint responsibility for providing services
- A requirement on local authorities to publish a local offer of services for disabled children and young people and those with SEN
- New protections for young people aged 16-25 in further education and a stronger focus on preparing them for adulthood
- Parents and young people, for the first time, to be entitled to have a personal budget
- Further education colleges, for the first time, and all academies, including free schools, to have the same duties as maintained schools to safeguard the education of children and young people with SEN.
