The Scottish Commission for People with Learning Disabilities (SCLD) is delighted to launch the second in our series of reports exploring the results of the 2019 “How’s Life?” national survey of people with learning disabilities in Scotland, “Mostly a 10, but sometimes a zero”: Exploring the wellbeing of people with learning disabilities in Scotland. In 2019, SCLD developed a survey …
This Scottish Learning Disability Week our theme is ‘Relationships’ and each day we’re exploring a different topic around this theme. For many people relationships with family form the cornerstone of their lives – providing a place of safety and security from which to grow from. However families are different and each person’s relationship with their family is different. In this …
We’re exploring a different topic around our ‘Relationships’ theme each day throughout Scottish Learning Disability Week 2021. Today’s topic is ‘Challenges’ – The Ann Craft Trust (ACT) is a national charity which exists to minimise the risk of abuse of disabled children and adults at risk. In this blog, CEO of the Trust, Deborah Kitson, explores safeguarding in the context …
The Scottish Learning Disabilities Observatory have published statistics on the mortality rate for people with learning/intellectual disabilities in Scotland during the COVID-19 pandemic. The statistics show that people within the learning/intellectual disabilities population were more than three times more likely to die from COVID-19 than those in the general population. SCLD has issued a statement in response to the publication …
To mark the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3rd December, the Scottish Commission for People with Learning Disabilities (SCLD) invited key stakeholders to take part in a virtual roundtable, on incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) into Scottish law. At the event we heard inputs from the United …
It has become clear from UK-wide data that people with a learning/intellectual disability are disproportionately at risk from, and affected by, the COVID-19 virus. We are now hearing positive news about the development and approval of vaccines for Covid-19. The following Position Statement from the Scottish Commission for People with Learning Disabilities (SCLD) outlines the human rights case on why …
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many things to light in terms of inequalities in our society, and this has certainly been the case when it comes to the welfare and human rights of people with learning disabilities. It was at the height of the pandemic in the April of 2020, that it became apparent that there was not adequate data on how COVID-19 …
A wee blether with… Jordan Allan, who is Service Quality Director at Thera Trust Scotland, an organisation which seeks to demonstrate that people with learning disabilties can be leaders in society. Thera is co-managed by directors who have lived experience of learning disability, like Jordan… Hi Jordan – nice to meet you, even if it is through a …
Our Evidence & Research Officer, Ruth Callander, writes about how the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown what is really important to people with learning/intellectual disabilities into ever sharper focus… Coronavirus swept into our lives like a tidal wave, turning them upside down, and confining us to our homes. At SCLD, we very quickly adapted our ways of working; video calls and …
SCLD’s Policy & Implementation Officer Oonagh Brown writes about the risk to the human rights of people with learning disabilities during the COVID-19 emergency… Over the last few weeks, there have been concerns expressed across the UK by disabled people and those who represent them about how decisions will be made concerning disabled people’s health care and treatment during the Coronavirus emergency. It is also becoming clear that …
