OUR VOICE Inside this issue Page Meet our New Committee Members 2-3 Members news from 2012 In memory of Philip Anthony 4 Party night 5 Talk About It 6-7 Partners in Healthcare 8 Friends and Fakes 9 Members Meeting 10-11 Pan Gwent People First 12 Just The Same 13 Confidence Building 14 Other news 15 Contact details 16
At the end of August we held elections for our Committee Members. Those who wished to stand for posts gave presentations on why they would be the best person for the role. We had to take a vote on some of the positions. It is good to see a number of our younger members elected onto the Committee. We have a strong and enthusiastic new team. Ryan - Chair Nicola - Vice-Chair Joanne - Secretary Anne - Co-Secretary Lorraine - Treasurer Alan - Co-Treasurer 2
We also elected the following members to post who will play important roles at Torfaen People First representing our members at meetings and conferences. Torfaen People First Special Ambassadors (left to right) Mark, John and David Lorraine - All Wales People First Representative (left to right) Mark, Tim and Robert All Wales People First Co-Representatives 3
The year started on a sad note as we lost our member and friend Philip Anthony who passed away on 31st December 2011. The story of Philips life told at his funeral was inspirational. The large number of people who attended to pay their respects at his church Llanyrafon Methodist showed how many friends he had. 4 In Loving Memory Of Philip Raymond Anthony Aged 60 years
Torfaen People First beat the February blues with a party night. Everyone who attended had a great night and felt it was a good idea to have a get together in the quieter month of February instead of December. It was good to be joined by members of Newport People First. 5
We held a meeting and invited representatives from all the 31 Talk About It Reporting Centres across Gwent, Gwent Police and members from Pan Gwent People First groups. We had a presentation to refresh everyone about the importance of reporting Hate crime. Gwent Police told us about the online OWL (Online Watch Link) they have launched to keep communities alerted to local issues online. Go to www.owl.co.uk where you can sign up with an email address. We shared ideas with our Community Police Officers and PCSO s (Police Community Support Officers) and heard feedback from the other Talk About It Centres on how they were running. 6
Torfaen People First were invited by Mencap and All Wales People First to present at a consultation event about Learning Disability Hate Crime. The event was to add to The Welsh Assembly Government s work on hate crime as part of learning disability week 2012. The event was held at the National Assembly Pierhead Building in Cardiff Bay and was attended by people with a learning disability, politicians and professionals. It was great to hear Jane Hutt AM, Equalities Minister give recognition to TPF for our work on Hate Crime during her talk. It was interesting to hear about the way Disability Hate Crime is being tackled in other areas of Wales Mark, Simon and John did a brilliant job delivering our presentation on sharing good practice. 7
Mandy and Helen from the Partners in Healthcare Team at the Welsh Ambulance Service NHS Trust came along to our coffee afternoon. They talked to members about their experiences of the ambulance service and what they thought would be an emergency/non emergency. We also gave our thoughts on some easy read booklets which were being made ready for the ambulance staff to use over the Olympics. Mark and Catherine also attended an NHS Direct workshop to see what we thought about the new NHS Direct Wales website. We completed a workbook to see if we could find out lots of different information. We gave feedback on the things we found and thought others might find difficult. The website includes an encyclopaedia with advice about different conditions/illnesses, information on local services including support groups, lifestyle and wellbeing, looking after yourself and health alerts and events. Have a look for yourself: www.nhsdirect.wales.nhs.uk 8
We hosted a Pan Gwent People First Conference called Friends and Fakes. The conference was to look at Mate Crime and to help everyone to make sure our friends are our friends for the right reasons. Most of our friends are good friends but some friends may take advantage or hurt us which IS NOT ok. Torfaen Community Education and our Just The Same group helped get the message across with drama displays. 9 We worked in groups and wrote our ideas on the tablecloths. The day gave everyone something to think about including how to keep ourselves safe when making new friendships.
We got lots of ideas about what people wanted in the next two years from Torfaen People First at a members meeting held with Torfaen Community Education. We re planning to hold more regular meetings together in the future to reach more people and hear a larger voice. 10
After breaking into smaller groups and writing down our ideas the most important things that everyone agreed for us to work on were: Telling people and professionals about life with a learning disability Speaking Up Self Advocacy Talking and Listening Hate Crime Bullying Mate Crime Publicity about Torfaen People First Getting more people involved Friendships/ Relationships Social Time Money for Torfaen People First and ourselves 11
Members from all of the Pan Gwent People First groups attended a planning meeting to talk about what everyone wanted from Pan Gwent in the future. Each of the People First groups gave a presentation on what their members wanted to focus on, what was important to them and what they hoped to achieve. All of the groups also had a display stand. It was a good chance to meet friends old and new and find out what everyone had been doing. Everyone voted on their favourite design for a new logo. The winning design is at the top of the page. You can also now look up Pan Gwent People First on facebook, Like the page to keep up to date. 12
For Young People aged 16-25 with Learning Disabilities Our group have been very successful delivering awareness training in primary schools in Torfaen, we re continuing this over the next few months. The feedback we have received has been very positive in changing negative perceptions about disability and helping with awareness of everyday problems that people with disabilities face. The young people are producing a DVD which will be shown in schools and colleges throughout Torfaen, filming starts at the beginning of December. Come and join our peers group between 5.00pm - 9.00pm on a Monday evening we support each other on many issues. Contact Lisa Lewis on 01633 838672 for more details. The group visited Newport police station and talked to the police officers about crime and crime reduction. We tried on handcuffs and other equipment, visited the C.I.D department and were shown a police vehicle. 13
Some of our members completed a Confidence Building Course for which they will receive an OCN Level 1 Qualification. Susan the tutor was really impressed by how well everyone learned. We learnt the differences between passive, aggressive and assertive behaviour and were able to identify these behaviours in different examples we were given. We also thought about ways that we could step out of our Comfort Zone and have the confidence to try new and different experiences. The following is part of a poem which we enjoyed called the The Comfort Zone Poem: I couldn t let my life go by just watching others win So I stepped outside the comfort zone to let the change begin. I took a step and with new strength I d never felt before, I kissed my comfort zone goodbye and closed and locked the door. If you are in the comfort zone, afraid to venture out, Remember that all winners were at one time filled with doubt. A step or two and words of praise can make your dreams come true So greet your future with a smile - success is there for you! 14
Training: Lorraine, John and Mark have delivered training as part of TRAC (Teaching Research Advisory Committee) at the University of Glamorgan on communication to second year student nurses and on learning disability awareness to new students who had recently started their course. Lorraine and Mark have also delivered Disability Awareness Training to Leisure Centre Employees in Caerphilly. Autism Fayre: We were invited to hold an information stand at the Torfaen and Monmouthshire Autism Spectrum Disarder Fayre. Mark and John flew the flag for Pan Gwent on our stand. There was a fantastic turnout with around 50 stands and over 200 attendees. Go to www.asdintowales.co.uk where you can take part in a E -Learning awareness quiz and print off a certificate to show you ve taken part. Organisations and schools can do it too. Lorraine represents Torfaen People First at All Wales People First National Council meetings and enjoyed the annual conference in Llandridnod Wells. All Wales People First new Director Joe Powell came to our last coffee afternoon: Joe said : It was a real pleasure to meet the members and staff of Torfaen People First. Seeing a local group in action, debating learning disability issues and voicing their opinions was a wonderful learning experience for me. Everyone was so friendly, positive and helpful and I am most grateful to the group for allowing me to meet them. I had a wonderful afternoon. 15
We re a self advocacy group led by people with a learning disability for people with a learning disability. The aim of the group is to gain respect and equality for people with a learning disability by speaking up and speaking out. Contact us at: 54 Victoria Street 01633 838672 Old Cwmbran, Torfaen, NP44 3JN info@tpfirst.org.uk www.tpfirst.org.uk 16