Latest News for Parents & Carers

It has been a busy few months for Renegade Zoo, a band formed through a creative arts project for young adults with learning disabilities in Londonderry. A debut album showcasing their brand of alt-pop launched earlier this year, a summer performance at the Foyle Maritime Festival followed, before taking to the stage at this year’s Stendhal Festival.

A blind woman felt compelled to leave a Wetherspoons pub after staff demanded proof that her guide dog, Rosie, was a genuine guide dog. Joanne Hewitson, 31, said she was “livid” and “shaking” after her experience going for breakfast at a pub in Hartlepool.

Learning Disability England is inviting signatories to support its open letter to the government, urging it to prioritise the health of people with learning disabilities. People with learning disabilities continue to face significant health inequalities and poorer health outcomes. The open letter to the Prime Minister sets out what needs to change to help people live longer, healthier lives.

More than half of parents struggle to find accessible holiday clubs for their disabled children, hitting family finances and forcing many to quit work altogether, according to a survey by a leading charity. A “stark postcode lottery” dictates who is able to secure a place for their child, according to the national disability charity Sense, which found an estimated 60,000 disabled children are living in areas of England with no holiday club provision for them.

DR UK opposes the Government’s plans to cut assistive software funded through Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA). DSA is a Government scheme that covers study-related costs arising from being Disabled, such as assistive technology, specialist equipment, and additional costs like printing or enlarging documents.