Listen Include Respect: Joe Reports from Learning Disability England

Our Listen, Include, Respect ambassador Joe, recently attended the Learning Disability England conference.

Here, they tell us what they learnt from the day and what their highlights were.

Man who has Down's syndrome smaling in front of a Learning Disability England backdrop

Listen Include Respect ambassador Joe

Two people smiling in front of a Listen, Include, Respect backdrop

Joe at the Learning Disability England conference

I was co-presenting at the Learning Disability England 2024 Conference. I was talking about the Listen Include Respect Guidelines with participating questions to the audience. Here are some of my thoughts of how my day went! I really enjoyed seeing the sparked communication and conversation when putting forward questions to the audience.

I also enjoyed hearing different viewpoints from different people who were from different backgrounds. It was very educational, such as learning how to present at a conference and listening to someone else’s presentation and learning from them. For example, I watched the Skills for Care presentation. 

This is where the moments and my highlights come together! I felt an electrifying feeling that I can’t put into words. It was a feeling that I was part of a national scale of my community. Before this conference I had small snapshots. However, at the conference I was seeing people from across the country who were part of my community. I could feel the vibe completely. learning about all of the other organisations from their stalls such as United Pride Friends and to know they exist made me feel speechless! The reality hit me that this conference is actually happening for real! It was a great electrifying feeling to know that the support is expanding for our community.

Young woman with Down's syndrome presenting with colleagues at a conference

Read Catherine’s account of the day here.

Inclusive participation is at the heart of all the Down’s Syndrome Association do. The Listen Include Respect guidelines help organisations understand what they need to do to make sure people with intellectual disabilities are included in their work. They were written by Inclusion International and Down Syndrome International. You can read more about Learning Disability England 2024 Policy and Politics for Good Lives conference here.

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