Latest News for Parents & Carers

Thousands more disabled people are set to benefit from a new package of support designed to help them into the work they want. Minister for Disabled People, Chloe Smith, has announced that 15 Jobcentre Plus sites will be testing an autism framework, designed with the National Autistic Society (NAS), to transform the service available to jobseekers on the autism spectrum.

Fashion label Unhidden has been all over the press in recent weeks. The label was founded by Victoria Jenkins, who became Disabled in her 20s. She said: “I have worked with many household name brands – from the high street to high end – over my career. When I became Disabled, it should have been then that I realised that none of my old clothes adjusted to my new needs.”

The Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) Society is working with The Sleep Charity to develop a new resource on sleep and PDA. It is based on these results and the lived experience of PDA individuals and sleep practitioners, who took part in their sleep survey. 85% of respondents reported that sleep was an issue for them or their child. Of the few who said sleep itself wasn’t difficult, 70% said that everything to do with going to bed was a demand. Although as always, for a few it’s not an issue at all and one person mentioned that sleep was great because it was a good way to escape from demands!

Student Ellie Goldstein has been named as one of Fabulous Magazine’s Women of the Year for her efforts in making the fashion industry more inclusive. The bubbly Performing Arts student at New City College’s Redbridge campus, who has Down’s Syndrome, is on the list alongside Her Majesty The Queen and pop star Adele! Ellie has also recently taken the modelling world by storm after securing a Gucci contract and appearing on TV’s Loose Women and Good Morning Britain.

The National Deaf Children’s Society’s post-16 research project called Recording Emerging Adulthood in Deaf Youth (READY), is being carried out by the Universities of Manchester and Edinburgh. The research has established a cohort of over 150 deaf young people, with the aim of better understanding the risk factors and protective factors as they transition through to adulthood. The year 2 READY report is now available and includes new evidence in the areas of language and communication, social networks, health, wellbeing and self-determination. The findings are available in English and BSL.