RSS in Rix Centre http://www.rixcentre.org/ Articles on Rix Centre en-uk Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:58:37 -0500 Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:58:37 -0500 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss The Rixcentre info@rixcentre.org info@rixcentre.org Web Accessibility Workshops The Inclusive New Media Design project has kicked off the year with its first round of workshops on web accessibility for people with intellectual disabilities.

The workshops, held over two days here at The Rix Centre, gave the participants in the research project the opportunity to meet for the first time. There was a lot of enthusiastic discussion on the subject of accessible web design and the best ways to write code and content. The events offered participants a great opportunity to share knowledge with each and the project team. It was a good beginning for everyone involved in the project.

Day 1 began with the participants, practising web designers and developers, getting to know each other and then being introduced to the broader aims and objectives of the project. With the introductions over, it was off to the labs. The lab sessions focused on existing web accessibility guidelines, assistive devices, and accessibility best practice when writing html code.



Most project participants are familiar with web accessibility for people with physical and sensory disabilities, and are participating in the project to find out more about intellectual disability. So Day 2 started with an introduction by Simon Evans, Consultant Researcher, on definitions of learning, cognitive and intellectual disabilities and how these are used. Further activities that day included an audit of websites designed for people with intellectual disabilities, and exercises in re-writing web content for these audiences.

At the end of the day, participants were asked for ideas to work on in the next workshop sessions which would put into practice the accessibility techniques outlined in these two days. Helen Kennedy, project leader said, “the participants have come up with some really great ideas to prototype, most of which would be an incredibly useful contribution to web accessibility for people with intellectual disabilities”.

We will be looking forward to the next workshops in the series, on the 15th & 16th of February. Here, topics covered include: 

  • more on design & development for people with intellectual disabilities
  • implementing best practice
  • issues in user testing with intellectually disabled users.

For more information on the days events, participants and presenters go to the Inclusive New Media Design website.

 

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:50 -0600 Inclusive New Media Design Project update Inclusive New Media Design Project update

Researchers on the Inclusive New Media Design project, based at the Rix Centre have been impressed with the response of Web practitioners to their recruitment drive for participants. More than 30 web designers, developers and editors from a diverse array of creative organisations have signed up to the project’s programme of specialist training workshops to be delivered in the New Year. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn about the special accessibility issues that people with learning disabilities face by working and learning alongside a group of web users with learning disabilities.

Andy Minnion, R&D Director of The Rix Centre, said "The enthusiasm of web developers to get involved and learn about the accessibility issues for users with learning disabilities is encouraging. It suggests that creative workers are more sensitive to issues about inclusive design than might be expected, this is a great start for this ambitious research programme."

To find out more about this project click here.

]]> Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:46:41 -0500 How to find The Rix Centre Transport connections to The Rix Centre.

Docklands Connections

The DLR station, Cyprus, is at the entrance to UEL’s Dockland Campus.

Travelling from Stratford Via Train
Take the Jubilee Line to Canning Town, and then change onto the DLR for trains to Beckton, alight at Cyprus Station.

 

Via Bus
Take the 262 bus from Stratford Bus Station/Town Centre to Cyprus DLR station.

Travelling from outer East London
Travel to Stratford (see above) or use Fenchurch St/District Line trains to West Ham, change to Jubilee Line for Canning Town, and change to DLR for trains to Beckton, alight at Cyprus Station.
 
Travelling from Central or West London
Use the DLR direct from Bank or Tower Gateway, travel by Central/Liverpool St Line to Stratford, or by Fenchurch Street/District Line to West Ham (see above).
 
Travelling from North London
Use the Silverlink (North London line) to Stratford, change to Jubilee Line for Canning Town, and change to DLR for trains to Beckton, alight at Cyprus Station.
 
Travelling from South London

Travelling from Lewisham and Greenwich? Use the DLR Network to travel to Poplar or Westferry, from here its only 9 or 10 stops to Cyprus Station.

Walk through the Woolwich foot tunnel under the Thames or use the Woolwich free ferry over the river and take a 101 bus from North Woolwich to the campus (stop in Manor Way off Gallions Roundabout next to the campus road entrance).

For more info check Multimap page.

]]> Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:30:56 -0500 Rix pickings Ajay Choksi, technical assistant at Rix Centre, explains in an interview to the magazine ’Learning Disability Practice’ how Multimedia Advocacy at Rix Centre helped to change his life and to improve his job skills.

Ajay first came at Rix in 2007. Thanks to his skill and his imagination he got a job in few days. Ajay is responsible for all the technical equipment in the courses run at the centre, for example, digital cameras, microphones and headphones.

He helps people with learning disabilities to use different softwares, digital cameras, recording sound and with scanning images.

Thanks to the competence acquired at the Rix Centre, Ajay has been able to build his own website, using an ’easy-build’ template. You can visit it at http://web.thebigtree.org/ajay.

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:50 -0600 The Challenges The challenges facing people with learning disabilities… and the benefits of new media!

 

People with learning disabilities find it hard to organise their thoughts, they often have difficulties with memory and can find communication and socialising a challenge.  They require effective support in their daily lives to play a fulfilling role in their communities and to participate in wider society.  Multimedia technologies can revolutionise their ability to play a role, to express themselves and to contribute.

New media technology can help to transform the daily lives of people with learning disabilities.  Most of us benefit from the use of digital technologies like mobile phones and computers to make our daily lives easier, but for those with learning disabilities these tools can make the difference between being excluded and taking part – with their peers and in their communities. New media can be used to enable them to live more independently, to build their support networks, to travel, explore different activities and to find suitable employment. These tools can make a significant difference to the capacity for people with learning disabilities to be included.

]]> Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:31:35 -0600 Rix Centre Activities Multimedia Advocacy Training

The Rix Centre runs short courses in Multimedia Advocacy in which over 1,000 social care professionals and more than 200 people with learning disabilities have been trained.  In these courses students work together to build Multimedia Advocacy Portfolios using digital cameras and computers, with which people with learning disabilities can plan their lives, improve their communications, and express their needs and desires. Professionals develop their support skills as well as confidence with new technologies that can improve their practice. Find out more about Multimedia Advocacy courses.

 

Front-line groups building highly accessible websites

The Rix Centre has developed templates for ‘easy build’ web sites that enable production of information in multimedia formats that are accessible for people with learning disabilities. The Centre has used this technology with over 40 East London community organisations over recent months to tackle the challenge of providing useful information for young people making the transition to independent lives in the community.  The system enables the young people themselves to make websites, share knowledge and experience and support their peers. Visit the Newham easy-read website.

 

Pioneering work on standards and guidelines for web development

The Rix Centre has run a programme of inclusive new media production training workshops and research.  Over 20 national web development companies have been engaged in this pioneering work which explores alternative design approaches in partnership with a team of web users with learning disabilities. Through this work new media professionals have developed new insights into the needs of this audience group and have contributed to the Centre’s work on new standards and guidelines for web design so that those with learning disabilities can participate in the rich media world.

 

Advice on wider participation for the learning disability community

In addition the Centre’s team has advised numerous organisations developing new media on the special accessibility requirements of people with learning disabilities.  These organisations have included Microsoft, BECTA, Macromedia, the BBC, Inclusion International and the World Wide Web Consortium Accessibility Group.

 

Ground-breaking research and development for people with profound disabilities

The Centre is developing our work in East London with people with severe and profound learning disabilities in its ‘Living Lab’. This is a programme of work in partnership with our neighbours in East London involving the design of innovative alternative computer interfaces for those who do not use a mouse and keyboard. Participants use switches, flash-cards and web cams with special software to create and share multimedia, develop new skills, express themselves and have fun! A second project will soon make a uniquely accessible and easy to use ‘e-portfolio’ available online especially for those with severe and profound disabilities to store and display their images, sound and video clips with minimal support.

Support for those taking up is provided through a new ‘Blog’ on the Centre’s website at ‘The Big Tree’ where they are guided on how to set up these systems themselves at low cost and provided with support as they put the new technologies into action. Visit The Big Tree Blog.

]]> Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:35:48 -0600 How we do it The Rix Centre - advice, support, teaching & training, research & development

The Rix Centre runs a Research and Development Lab based at the University of East London, where it works with the learning disability community developing ways to use the latest new media technologies to improve people’s daily lives.

The Centre team builds innovative software packages and researches the range of opportunities in which new media technology can be deployed. 

The Rix Centre provides advice and support for organisations taking up these new ways of supporting and informing people with learning disabilities and runs training courses in which social and community care professionals can learn alongside the people they support.

The Centre also provides undergraduate and post graduate courses in Multimedia Advocacy and shares its experience and expertise through a programme of events, presentations and research publication in online and print formats.

]]> Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:30:45 -0600 Click Start The learning disability community to benefit from 2009 accessible web site roll out of Click Start

October 20, 2008
Thousands of people with learning disabilities, their carers and families will be able to exploit newly designed accessible Web sites in 2009 to transform their lives as a result of a new project, Click Start, which kicks off this week.

The Rix Centre, the R&D centre developing multimedia for the learning disabilities community, will play a central role in this European-funded project.

The Rix Centre will build version 2 of its Easy Build Web Site Templates and train representatives in nine London Boroughs in its implementation.

Navigation for easy access
Easy Build helps creators develop clear navigation for Web content so that those with learning disabilities can access vital information which can transform their lives.  Two hundred people with learning disabilities in Newham Borough alone have used Easy Build version 1 to develop their own sites of local and generic information.

The nine London Boroughs will be able to help local groups supporting the learning disability community easily build their own Web sites and also build a portal for each borough.

One key feature of version 2 of Easy Build will be a template for local authority services such as swimming pools to quickly build a web page easily accessible for people with learning disabilities giving details of their services.

Andy Minnion, director of the Rix Centre, says: “People with learning disabilities often  have difficulties with, among other things, reading text and manipulating conventional multimedia interfaces which as mice and keyboards.  Easy Build overcomes these problems with built-in accessibility.

Creating common interest in the learning disabilities community
“Making Web sites accessible for people with learning disabilities which involves those people in their creation also develops a community of common interest among them.  People with learning disabilities change their role from being participants of services to being creators, advocates and advisors.”

This roll out of Click Start in January to March 2009 will be based on the pioneering work the Rix Centre has already done with Newham Borough Council to build the Newham Easy Read transitional portal www.newhameasyread.org.

Each Borough’s portal and Web sites will aim to help people with learning disabilities transition to and independent and/or adult life.  


Helping the vital transition to adulthood and independence
In this vital transition people with learning disabilities need to have a voice so that they can be listened to; need to have help in personalising their services; and need assistance to direct their own care services.  These three aims are a statutory obligation of local authorities.  Accessible Web sites can play a vital role in achieving this.

A vital part of the Rix Centre’s approach is to involve people with learning disabilities in the design, creation, assessment and running of these sites.

The total £192,000 funding for Click Start is being provided by the Learning and Skills Council, the government body aiming to make England better skilled and more competitive.  The funds come from the European Social Fund.

Ellingham Employment Services led the bid for funds
The bid for Click Start was put in by Ellingham Employment Services, specialists in preparing and placing people with learning disabilities into a range of employment opportunities throughout North East & Central London.

Ellingham Employment Services will set up an editorial group of users with learning disabilities to help train and support the Boroughs in the roll out of Click Start.  The Rix Centre and Ellingham have worked closely in the past evaluating how accessible multimedia is for the BBC, the Office of Disability Inspectorate and other bodies.

Nine London Boroughs in the North East of London will be invited to take part in the roll out of Click Start.  They are: the London Boroughs of Barking, Bexley, Greenwich, Hackney, Havering, Lewisham, Newham, Redbridge and the combined boroughs of the City and Towner Hamlets.

In the year the Newham Easy Read portal has been running, 30 groups in the borough have created easy access web sites for people with learning disabilities using the Rix Easy Build Web Site Templates.  In its first year of operations newhameasyread.org had 245,679 hits accessing 6,231,185 kilobytes of information and now provides a portal to 30 other sites built with Easy Build.


The Rix Centre is an R&D centre and  charity based at the University of East London committed to realising the benefits of new media technology the transform the lives of people with learning disabilities.  It focuses on running courses for service users and carers; developing easy-build web sites and portals; developing standards and guidelines for web accessibility; and advising organisations on developing technologies and emerging best practice.  It is a charity funded by grant-giving bodies, corporate sponsorship, private donors, research grants and commissions.  Visit www.rixcentre.org for more.

The Ellingham Employment Services is a non-profit vocational-guidance training and supported employment service for people with learning disabilities.  Established in 1985, it became a company limited by guarantee in 1986 and a registered charity in 1992.  Ellingham is able to provide: Pre-vocational training; Work related training; and Employment opportunities.

Contact Andy Minnion, director of the Rix Centre, on 020 8223 7561 for more details.

]]> Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:45:59 -0500 Support our work You can help support our work at the Rix Centre by making a donation.  However large or small, your donation will enable us to help people with learning disabilities exploit the latest multimedia technology.

It can cost £120 for a digital camera that is suitable for person with learning disabilities to use.  We need more computers with special features, like touch screen and switch interfaces to help include all our students in our multimedia advocacy training. These can cost as much as £1,500 to set up.  These are just some examples of the technology our work relies on.

Donations can also help us to extend our training and technologies to reach more people with profound and multiple learning disabilities, alongside their families and supporters. Alternatively a gift can support a particular piece of research and development to enable a further range of people with learning disabilities to participate in the use of new media to improve their daily lives. Some of our R&D ‘microprojects’ cost as little as £2,000 and achieve their aims within small budgets to make a major difference to people’s lives.

 

You can donate by:

 
 



If you are a UK tax payer, the Rix Centre can reclaim you tax on each £1 that you give.  So make sure you tick that box on the donation form.

We have several generous donors already.  For example, The Jack Petchey Foundation recently donated £30,000.  We would like you to join our growing list of donors.  

If you would like to support a particular part of our work, please contact us directly.




One-off donations:
To give a one-off donation by cheque or debit card please complete the donations form and return to the address attached.
Download ’Donations’ form

Gift Aid:
Changes in the tax law mean that for every £1 you give, The Rix Centre can now reclaim the tax on your donation.If you are a UK taxpayer all you have to do is tick the box and the The Rix Centre can reclaim the tax. This can be applied for all donations large or small, regular or one-off, whatever the method of payment.

For all donations recieved we can add 28% to your the amount.

 

Please note: for donations to be valid for Gift Aid, the donor must have paid an amount of Income or Capital Gains Tax equal to the tax deducted from their donation.
Download ’Gift Aid’ form

 


Online Donations:
You can make an online donation to The Rix Centre via the Charity Aid Foundation (CAF) website. To donate now Click Here.

Standing Order:
To set up a regular donation to The Rix Centre please complete the ’Standing Order’ and return to the address attached.
Download ’Standing Order’ form


Give as you Earn:
Give as you Earn  - a simple tax free charitable giving direct from your pay. If your Employer runs a Payroll Giving Scheme then donations are deducted before tax so each £1.00 you give will only cost you 80p, and if you’re a higher rate tax payer it will only cost you 60p. Simply obtain the Payroll Giving Form from your HR Department. Our charity number is 1105410.

 



 

 

]]> Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:40:24 -0600 Accessibility Statement Technical Info

This site has been developed to comply with WCAG-AA guidelines with the aim to working towards achieving AAA status. Below are some of the accessibility issues that have been considered in the development of this site:

Resolution


This site has been optimised for a screen resolution of 800x600 and above

Structure


This site has been semantically structured using XHTML purely for structure and CSS for visual design. Header elements have been used to convey specific headings to aid in accessibility and search engine ranking.

Text


Text size can be increased using the "readability" drop down menu on the right hand side of every page. Alternatively you can use your web browser to increase (+) and decrease (-) the font size.

  • On Internet Explorer (PC) select: View > Text Size
  • Firefox (PC): Ctrl + or Ctrl -
  • Firefox (Mac): Option + or Option -

Images


Images all contain 'alt' tags that describe the images, and also 'title' tags that enable the user to hover over images and links to find out more information in the form of a tool tip.

Colour


Colours have been chosen to contrast effectively, and colour has not been used exclusively to convey any information or navigation. You can change the contrast of the website by selecting the "high contrast" option in the drop down menu on the right hand side of every page on this site.

Browser Compatibility

  • Internet Explorer 4.x +
  • Netscape Navigator 4.x +
  • Mozilla Firefox 1.0 +
  • Safari 2.0 +
  • (On Windows & Macintosh Platforms)
]]> Tue, 06 Mar 2007 14:52:07 -0600 Copyright The Rix Centre website copyright statement

The content (content being images, text, sound and video files, programs and scripts) of this website is copyright © The Rix Centre. All rights expressly reserved.

The content of this website can be accessed, printed and downloaded in an unaltered form (altered including being stretched, compressed, coloured or altered in any way so as to distort content from its original proportions or format) with copyright acknowledged, on a temporary basis for personal study which is not for a direct or indirect commercial use and any non-commercial use. Any content printed or downloaded may not be sold, licensed, transferred, copied or reproduced in whole or in part in any manner or in or on any media to any person without the prior written consent of the British Library, including but not limited to:

  • transmission by any method
  • storage in any medium, system or program
  • display in any form
  • performance
  • hire, lease, rental or loan

Requests for permission to reproduce material from this website should be addressed to:

Email: info@rixcentre.org

The Rix Centre has made every reasonable effort to locate, contact and acknowledge copyright owners and wishes to be informed by any copyright owners who are not properly identified and acknowledged on this website so that we may make any necessary corrections.

Other individuals and organisations wishing to make The Rix Centre's content accessible through their websites are encouraged to create hypertext links to the required content on this website.

]]> Tue, 06 Mar 2007 15:05:01 -0600 Access & Participation At the heart of all of the Rix Centre’s activity is the principle of improving the access & participation of people with learning disabilities in the world of new digital media. Our experience of working with this community has shown that this can help people to integrate with mainstream society more effectively, engage with the wider community and have a stronger voice. This sums up what we do as a Centre - building and using inclusive new media for the wider social inclusion of people with learning disabilities.

]]> Tue, 30 Sep 2008 10:17:49 -0500 Multimedia Advocacy The Rix Centre champions ’Multimedia Advocacy’ as a range of different ways in which people with learning disabilities can have a stronger say in their lives and make their voices heard. Multimedia advocacy enables people to explore and understand their personal options and make informed choices, tell their own stories, plan ahead and communicate day-to-day using cameras, videos, microphones and computers.

Multimedia Advocacy is proving a really effective way to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities... and it can be fun to do for both users and supporters!

The benifits of multimedia advocacy

People with learning disabilities can benefit from the use of multimedia in many ways:

  • They can gain confidence in communication and engage more effectively in shaping their day to day activities
  • They can share their interests and tastes and explain the ways that they like to be supported   
  • They can develop their skills in the use of Computers and in general social interaction and communication
  • They can prepare presentations to highlight their gifts, talents and achievements and so improve their prospect of being active citizens and finding suitable employment
  • They can use multimedia to explore their opportunities and make informed choices and decisions
  • They can use multimedia to record their life stories and their experiences to help others really get to know and understand them.


Those providing care and support can also benefit:

  • Families, professionals and supporters gain additional ways to work and interact with people with learning disabilities by using multimedia
  • It provides an engaging and accessible way to make plans together and produce records that everyone can engage with
  • Working with multimedia provides a great platform for the sharing of ideas and the capturing of subtle communication
  • It gives supporters a way to record all the things that they have learned about the people that they are working with, so that it is not lost but it is handed on by the person themselves in a format that they can understand
  • Supporters develop technical skills and confidence that will help them personally and professionally
  • Professionals who complete these courses will also build more understanding about person centred approaches to care, advocacy, communication, empowerment and inclusion.

 

]]> Tue, 30 Sep 2008 10:17:49 -0500 web tools
did the swiss ever make anything useful?

]]> Thu, 08 Mar 2007 10:15:02 -0600 Click Start: New project launch The learning disability community to benefit from  accessible web site ‘pilot roll out’ across East London boroughs on ‘Click Start’

 


The learning disability community will benefit from Rix Centre research and development work on a new accessible web site ‘roll out’ in a project called ClickStart in 2009.

In this latest stage in the Rix Centre’s research of accessible communications, thousands of people with learning disabilities, their carers and families will be able to exploit newly designed accessible Web sites in 2009 to transform their lives as a result of a new project, Click Start, which kicks off this week.

The Rix Centre will play a central role in this project, refining the technology, training and implementation for this innovative accessibility solution and evaluating the way it is used in a project that is funded through the Learning and Skills Council.

The Rix Centre will build and trial version 2 of its innovative ‘Easy Build’ Website Templates and train representatives in nine East London Boroughs in pilot its implementation. Nine London Boroughs will be able to help local groups supporting the learning disability community to easily build their own Web sites, which will also feed into a special highly accessible ‘easy-read’ web portal for each borough.  Research suggests that at least 17% of all families in these boroughs are affected by learning disabilities.

One key feature of version 2 of the Easy Build websites will be a template for local authority services such as swimming pools to quickly build a web page easily accessible for people with learning disabilities giving details of their services.

Andy Minnion, director of the Rix Centre, says: “People with learning disabilities often have difficulties with, among other things, reading text and manipulating conventional multimedia interfaces with mice and keyboards.  Easy Build overcomes these problems with built-in accessibility."

Creating common interest in the learning disabilities community

The Rix Centre has high expectations for this new phase of research activity in partnership with the East London community and there are immediate benefits for those with learning disabilities, their families and supporters.
“Making Web sites accessible for people with learning disabilities by involving those people in their creation also helps develop a community of common interest and link together the various agencies that are there to support them in their daily lives.  People with learning disabilities change their role from being simply ‘recipients’ of services to being active participants, creators, advocates and advisors,” Minnion says.

The pilot ‘roll out’ of Click Start in January to March 2009 will be based on the pioneering research work the Rix Centre has already done with Newham Borough Council to build the Newham Easy Read transitional portal www.newhameasyread.org.

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:50 -0600 Project summary Inclusive New Media Design aims to contribute to the social inclusion of people with disabilities in the WWW. It will do this by exploring the place occupied by guidelines for designing accessible websites in the work practices of new media designers. These guidelines are produced by the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Accessibility Initiative (W3C WAI), the organisation that governs the technical standards of the web, and, in many countries, including our own, they form the basis of legal documents to which new media designers should adhere. Whilst there is much activity focusing on how to implement and improve the guidelines, and there is growing awareness of them as a result of new policy, more accessible tools and their acceptance by web design gurus, no academic research has been carried out with new media designers themselves to explore how and why accessibility does or does not get taken up. Little is known about the factors within new media design practices which affect designers’ perceptions of accessibility guidelines, or whether other approaches, such as the inclusion of disabled users in the design process, or highlighting exemplary and inspiring accessible design practice, are more effective in persuading designers to subscribe to the accessibility ethos. Furthermore, the guidelines are to be integrated into a process which is thought to be both intuitive and unknowable - creative design. Inclusive New Media Design will bring together these apparently contradictory forces - on the one hand, detailed technical guidelines, and on the other, intuitive design - by exploring the relationship and potential for compatability between the two. The project will thus be framed by current debate in the humanities, in HCI and beyond about new media work, design and creativity.

 

Within the project’s two-year duration, a series of workshops will be run with approximately 30 new media designers with a spectrum of accessibility expertise, followed by work-based observation sessions with the designers. The early workshops will focus on problem-solving - they will be consultative focus group sessions in which examples of accessible web design are examined and accessibility guidelines are applied in the creation of new media design solutions. In later workshops, designers will be introduced to disabled users to compare the effectiveness of integrating users into the design process with guidelines training as a means of achieving accessible web design. In the workshops, participants get free advice and consultancy from the project team, and in return, they agree to the project team carrying out observations in their workplaces, analysing the websites they are working on, and discussing with them their approaches to accessibility within the context of the creative design process.

The research aims to benefit people with disabilities, by identifying effective approaches to their inclusion in the WWW. The findings will be disseminated in academic domains through journal articles, and to new media designers and developers through a project website. They will also be disseminated to the W3C and other standards bodies with the assistance of Adobe’s accessibility team and aim to inform international efforts to enhance web accessibility for people with disabilities. The project will be run from within UEL’s Rix Centre for Innovation and Learning Disability, which has a track record of managing research and development within this field. The project will address the accessibility needs of people with physical and cognitive disabilities, with particular attention to the latter, a group acknowledged internationally as historically absent from web accessibility efforts. The findings will be significant for 21 st century design as they will contribute to the inclusion of people with disabilities, especially cognitive, in the WWW, and to socially inclusive new media design.

]]> Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:29:12 -0500 Aims & objectives

The overall aims of Inclusive New Media Design are:

  • To examine ways in which socially inclusive new media might be designed for disabled communities, particularly cognitively disabled communities;
  • To contribute towards the social inclusion of people with disabilities in new media such as the WWW.

The specific objectives are:

  • To explore the place of web accessibility guidelines within the practices of new media designers and within creative design processes;
  • To explore the factors which affect the take up of accessibility guidelines and the accessibility ethos (for example, clients' priorities and interests);
  • To examine the effectiveness of guidelines as a way of achieving accessible web design;
  • To examine the effectiveness of approaches other than guidelines as a way of achieving accessible web design (for example, the inclusion of disabled users in the design process, or demonstrations of exemplary accessible web design);
  • To disseminate findings amongst relevant academics, new media designers and developers and key international bodies such as W3C.
]]> Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:29:12 -0500 Research questions There is increasingly widespread commitment amongst governing and legislative bodies and campaign organisations to ensure that the WWW is socially inclusive of everyone, regardless of ability, but how can this be achieved? The W3C WAI establishes accessibility guidelines in an attempt to achieve such social inclusion, but how effective are they as a way of achieving inclusion? These research problems are addressed in the project through the following questions:

 

  • How might the social inclusion of people with disabilities in new media like the WWW be achieved?
  • How effective are web accessibility guidelines as a means of achieving such social inclusion?
  • What factors affect the take up and application of the accessibility ethos and guidelines in the web design practices of new media designers?
  • What is the relationship between accessibility guidelines and the creative design process?
  • How effective are other approaches (such as the inclusion of disabled users in the design process or highlighting exemplary practice) in achieving accessible web design?
]]> Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:29:12 -0500 New Media People with learning disabilities are using new media to communicate, shape their lives, train for work and live independently. The Rix Centre has courses called multimedia advocacy. These have been a great success: many people have changed the way they now communicate with and to people with learning disabilities. You can find out about our multimedia advocacy in this section and in the ’Teaching & Learning’ section of this website.

There are also personal stories from people who have used multimedia to make a difference in their lives. You will be able find some help here about web accessibility. We are developing version 2 of ‘easy-build’ Web-site development tools for people with learning disabilities to make their own web portal. Check out the ‘Beyond the Road Ahead’ report created for SCIE.

Recently we started a new blog all about the different technologies that are being used to assist people with learning disabilities to gain access to the internet with simple interactions. With open source software we are developing new practices. We will be telling you all about it at The Big Tree Blog and you can join in the conversation too.

 

 

]]> Tue, 19 Jan 2010 07:31:26 -0600 Accessiible Web Production Accessible Web Development

At the Rix Centre we specialise in developing accessible websites for people with learning disabilities or for organisations working in this community. We like to work in partnership with our clients to ensure that their message is reaching the largest possible audience.

Accessible web development is a very important part of what we are about. Its influence is felt across the board in our production services. In print, digital video and interactive design, accessibility is the key to making it right for our audience. We also offer advice in this area to make other web development projects as successful as our own. You can't under estimate the simplicity and clarity that designing with accessibility in mind can give to your project and the message you want to get out there. We believe that a clear and easy to understand message is the key to good communication.

 

 

]]> Fri, 07 Dec 2007 12:26:26 -0600 Digital Video Production The Rix Centre offers a range of services for digital video. Several members of our team have experience in video production for the professional and public sectors. In today's world video is not just confined to television or cinema it has been given a new lease of life by the Internet and mobile phone technology.

The Rix Centre is able to take advantage of expertise to make any production suitable for the diversity of platforms out there. We can help with your ideas and storyboards to bring clarity to your message.

The centre also has access to the latest post-production technology for digital video and is able to provide clients with quality production techniques. We have a strong creative element to our production process that makes our video projects stand out from the rest.

]]> Fri, 07 Dec 2007 12:26:26 -0600 Design for Print The Rix Centre operates as a small graphic design agency that can deliver contemporary design for print across a range of products.

For the learning disability community we are able to enhance your organisation's public profile, develop a range of printed material from business cards to large format printing that will have a unique quaility and look.

If you would like to know more about how we can help with your printing needs then please feel free to contact us.

 

]]> Fri, 07 Dec 2007 12:26:26 -0600 Multimedia Design The team here at the Centre all have experience in developing professional interactive products.

We believe that interactivity is the key to making digital communication accessible for the learning disability community. It can provide information in a variety of different formats, such as audio, video or motion graphics using text, that will give the user an interactive experience but also deliver the intended message.

Our background in working with interactive media gives us the understanding to know how people with or without learning disablities use digital media. We use this to our advantage to develop either games that help with learning or software interfaces that deliver all types of content.

 

]]> Fri, 07 Dec 2007 12:26:26 -0600 Video: Multimedia advocacy Tue, 30 Sep 2008 10:17:49 -0500 Teaching & Learning

From our base at the University of East London, the Rix Centre provides a wide range of teaching and learning packages on the use of ICT and multimedia with people with learning disabilities. These cover themes ranging from Web design and development to ‘Multimedia Advocacy’ and provide best-practice training as well as in-depth study of the values and issues that sit behind these new ways of working. Training and support is packaged in various formats to suit the full spectrum of learner needs tailored both for people with learning disabilities, their supporters and managers. Wherever possible we encourage students of different abilities to work together and learn from each other in ‘inclusive learning’ settings.

The Centre’s package of teaching and learning includes:

 
  • Courses – range from inclusive 4 week ‘day-release’ short courses to full under-graduate and post graduate modules
  • Support – blends with the training that we can provide for staff, service-users and organisations deploying all sorts of multimedia use with and for people with learning disabilities
]]> Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:02:35 -0600 Lee's story Lee has a mild learning disability and was a volunteer with his local Learning Disability Partnership Board. He had never had paid work, but was at college studying graphics and the web.

During a Rix Centre workshop on ‘easy-build’ websites, Lee astounded everyone. Before the first training session was half way through, Lee piped up and said, “is this what you mean?” He had created a genuinely accessible web page.

The good news didn’t stop there. When the Rix Centre trainers returned a few months later, they were pleased to find Lee working for the Partnership Board as an information officer. Lee now has realistic ambitions to progress to a job in mainstream web development, graphics and information management.

]]> Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:43:37 -0600 Ajay's story Ajay is a young man with a learning disability from Newham in East London who works part-time at the Rix Centre. “I joined the Rix Centre - Ajay says - one and half year ago, in February 2007. The first time I came into the Rix Centre I immediately liked the place and the people. I met Gosia Nowicka, the Multimedia Advocacy course leader, and I started the classes.”


Ajay found the course very challenging: “In the beginning it was a bit hard, but the more I got into it the more I found it interesting. Now I’m working as a students supporter and I enjoy so much helping people that like me have learning disabilities. I’m helping as a technical assistant too; I help the students with things like setting up their computers, logging on, and with the installation of software packages as Office. I take care of everything that concerns the good functioning of audio and video applications like Windows Movie Maker, supporting the students in creating their stories. I love to be involved with the work with Gosia and the other members of the Multimedia Advocacy course.”


Ajay is well up in to Photoshop as well: “I love that software! I like Powerpoint as well. I use it to create slideshows and document for the classes.”


To show prospective employers what he has to offer, Ajay produced a multimedia CV, using the Rix Centre’s ‘easy-build’ website templates. He went on to produce a personal website to share the skills that he has learned about getting into work with other young people with learning disabilities. This uses photos to talk about job seeking, independent travel, and handling money – all useful knowledge for his peers. “My website is the thing I enjoy the most; I included all my personal information in it, travelling, my life at work, with text, pictures, videos and sounds… al my life is there!” Ajay’s website is available at http://web.thebigtree.org/ajay/.

Working at the Rix Centre helped Ajay’s life to improve drastically. “My life changed a lot thanks to the Rix Centre. Now I’m independent, and I feel self-confident in speaking with other people. I want to thank Gosia for that, because at the beginning I felt a little afraid but now I know that I’m able to help people like me, and finally I have the chance to get a job: I want to be a website designer!”


The Rix Centre runs a number of projects that enable young people with learning disabilities to share their knowledge, experience and insights with others, using multimedia for ‘peer to peer’ learning and support.

 

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:06:00 -0600 Anand's story Anand has been seeing his girlfriend regularly for over thirty years. The trouble is, they are always accompanied by a relative who stays with them until it’s time for Anand to go home. Anand came with his support worker to take part in a Rix Centre multimedia advocacy course.

As a result of creating a multimedia ‘route map’ which he can use on a mobile phone, Anand has been able to convince his family that he can travel safely without them. He can now be alone with his girlfriend for the first time in all those years.

It is a significant change in his quality of life; he also feels more confident in speaking up for himself. The whole experience of saying what he wants through the use of multimedia has given him more personal freedom.

]]> Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:43:18 -0600 The Rix Centre Trustees Rudi Mueller CBE, Chairman of Trustees

Graduating from the University of Geneva with a degree equivalent to an MBA, he held numerous senior management positions in Switzerland, the Far East and London during a career with the Union Bank of Switzerland. He was Chief Executive and Chairman of the UBS in London and a Member of the Banks Group Executive Board until 1998. He has held Board Directorships in a variety of international companies, among them the London Stock Exchange and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
In recognition of his work in the financial services industry he was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 1997 and, through his work with the Rix Centre, was awarded a Doctor of Business Administration (honoris causa) from the University of East London in 2005. He is committed to helping the Rix Centre achieve its aim of ensuring that those with learning disabilities can lead more independent lives through the use of the latest IT and multi-media technology.

Brain Baldock CBE, Trustee
 

After working as a director for a number of blue-chip companies, he joined the main board of Guinness plc in 1986, retiring in 1996 as Group Managing Director and Deputy Chairman. He was awarded the CBE in the 1997 Birthday Honours List.
He was a director of Marks & Spencer plc from October 1996 and Chairman from June 1999 to February 2000. He is a past Chairman of Lord Taverners (1992 to 1994). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Companion of the British Institute of Management and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
Since becoming Chairman of Mencap in December 1998, he has ensured that people with a learning disability are now at the heart of everything that Mencap does. Brian has been one of the first to acknowledge the potential for innovative technology to improve communication for people with a learning disability, and steered the establishment of the Rix Centre at the University of East London, dedicated to the use of technology to support those with disabilities.

Jonathan Rix, Trustee

Jonathan Rix represents the Rix family on the board of Trustees and has personal experience of learning disabilities as a parent, sibling and practitioner. He is a lecturer in Inclusion, Curriculum and Learning at the Open University. He researches and writes on inclusive pedagogies and policies, parental perspectives and issues of access for people with learning disabilities, and has been an advisor for the Departments for Education and Skills and Department of Health Early Support programme.
He has worked in education in many different settings. He spent 13 years as a support teacher in a Hackney Secondary School, as well as working in theatre-in-education, as a writer-in-residence in prisons, and with community arts groups in different parts of the UK. He has won awards as a novelist, playwright, and author of audio tour guides, as well as being a contributor to two books on theatre history, and the academic advisor on two Open University - BBC series, ‘School Day’ and ‘Nobody’s Normal’.


Anthony McClellan, Trustee

Tony McClellan has had a successful corporate career first with Ferranti Limited, as marketing research manager, and then with Geo. Bassett & Co. Ltd, as group industrial engineer with responsibility for five group factories. He then worked as regional general manager and Marketing Director for Carryfast Ltd, then a division of Unilever. He led an MBO of Carryfast, purchasing it from Unilever to build it into the largest ambulance manufacturer in the UK, when it was sold to UBS. After leaving Carryfast in 1997, he became part owner and director of Gifa SA, the leading manufacturer of ambulances in France. He is, a Member of the British Institute of Management, a Member of the Institute of Logistics and Fellow of the Institute of Directors, Member of the Board of Management of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Member of the Board of the Foundation of the Academy of American Ophthalmology.
He has had a long interest in the development and use of modern communication methods and technologies in assisting people with learning disabilities to flourish in today’s world. This interest stems from tackling the problems of his own daughter, who is a Downs Syndrome child. The great opportunity to become a Trustee of the Rix Centre allows him to support in a very tangible way this very important work.

David Ellis, Trustee

David Ellis, Principal Adviser Adult Services for the Social care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), where he advises on making SCIE’s work relevant to Service providers, people who use services, commissioners and policy makers .He is also the theme leader for Effective Services for Adults. David qualified as a mental health social worker in 1968 and following graduation, worked for Camden Council for ten years. In 1977 David moved to Islington Council to take up the position of Area Manager and in 1986 joined the Social Services Inspectorate (SSI) as regional inspector. In 1992, David moved within the Department of Health to the Disability Policy branch where he was the professional advisor on social care issues focusing particularly on learning disability issues. On leaving DH in 2002 he came to work for SCIE.

]]> Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:39:00 -0600 Click Start Phase II Workshop 2nd March 2010 The next Click Start Phase II workshop will take place on Tuesday 2nd March 2010 at the Rix Centre, UEL Docklands Campus. This will be the first workshop session in a five week Click Start Mini training course, looking at how to create your free Click Start website and working on developing your borough portal . The session will run from 10am to 1pm. For more information about the second phase of Click Start see the Click Start Blog: www.clickstart.org.uk

]]> Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:20:44 -0600 Introduction The Rix Centre is a charitable research & development organisation dedicated to the exploration of new media for the benefit of the learning disability community.
Multimedia can help people with learning disabilities to organise their thoughts, remember, learn and communicate more effectively. This can significantly improve their ability to live independent lives, contribute to the community and fulfil their personal aims and ambitions.

 

The Rix Centre works with the learning disability community to ensure that the benefits of these technologies are realised. We combine research and development with teaching and learning. We provide a variety of products & services developed with a network of partners, customers and sponsors.

 

The Centre was established as a Charitable Organisation in 2004.  It grew out of research work at the University of East London (UEL) and is based at the UEL’s London Docklands Campus. The  Rix Centre brings together specialist researchers and new media developers with people with learning disabilities and their supporters.

 

It is named in honour of Lord Rix, who has campaigned tirelessly for people with learning disabilities for over 60 years and is President of Mencap and Chancellor of UEL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

]]> Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:30:01 -0600 The Rix Centre

Making new media work for the learning disability community

The Rix Centre is a charitable research & development organisation committed to realising the benefits of new media technology to transform the lives of people who have learning disabilities.


There are 1.5 million people with learning disabilities in the UK who experience considerable social exclusion. Alongside their families and supporters they form a significant and often isolated community, which can benefit considerably from the exploitation of new media technologies. Find Out More.

 

 

 

 

 


]]> Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:16:24 -0600 Inclusive New Media Design Team


Project Director, Dr Helen Kennedy
Helen Kennedy is leading the project, overseeing the project’s progression and participating in all aspects of the research. She has experience of the management of new media projects, of research into new media work and disability, and has published widely in new media and cyberculture studies. 


Simon Evans, Consultant Researcher
Simon Evans is consultant researcher on the project, with over 10 years experience of web development, training and consultancy in new media and disability R&D. Throughout this period he has developed software, elearning resources, websites and other interactive media for adults and children with complex disabilties. Since 2001 he has worked on many commercial and research projects with both The Rix Centre and UEL.

Siobhan Thomas, Research Fellow
Siobhan Thomas will join the project in September 2007 to carry out the bulk of the research. She has experience of new media research, for example at the Institute of Education and Southbank University, as well as being an experienced new media designer with knowledge of web accessibility issues.
E-mail: Siobhan Thomas

Web Project Manager, Pat Staples
Pat Staples co-ordinates input from The Rix Centre’s web development team in the development and maintainance of the project’s website. The website will recruit and communicate with participants, demonstrate case studies of good practice and disseminate findings.


Project Administrator, Pippa Sweeney
Pippa Sweeney is undertaking the project’s administrative functions and is responsible for organising the workshops. She has a range of administrative experience, and has also worked in education as a learning support assistant with students with disabilities.

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]]> Tue, 23 Oct 2007 10:16:35 -0500 sub sub sub page 3 Tue, 23 Oct 2007 10:29:58 -0500 Our Approach This is how we approach our work at the Rix Centre:

Valuing People – we stress the need to shape everything we provide for people with learning disabilities with them.  We support them to voice their wishes, listen to what they communicate and shape our response accordingly.

Personalisation of services – our accessible information development and facilitation of self-advocacy helps service-users express their needs and preferences.  We help them explore their options and make informed choices to genuinely ‘self-direct’ the service package that they need to participate in the wider community.

Person-centred practice – we provide tools and training which make this achievable and easier to realise, even with people who have complex communication difficulties.

Transition support - our product packages, training workshops and models of good practice tackle the special challenges faced by people with learning disabilities in their lives, especially through the difficult transition into adult life in the wider community post school.

Technology-Assisted Learning – we research technology-assisted learning with people with learning disabilities.  We include their teachers, managers, assistants and the other parties involved in shaping E learning platforms, virtual learning environments and e folios. We raise issues and develop solutions, making tools for truly effective inclusive learning enabled by the latest technologies.

Web accessibility – we have developed a specialist understanding of the Web accessibility requirements of people with learning disabilities and explored a number of creative and technical approaches to address these issues. We provide advice and services for organisations seeking to get Web accessibility right for this community.  We demonstrate best practice in compliance with standards and legal directives.

Participatory research – our development and evaluation actively involves people with learning disabilities alongside researchers as well as families and professional carers.

Knowledge Transfer – we constantly broker between academic and technical expertise of Rix Centre staff and research partners and the users, practitioners, suppliers and policymakers.

]]> Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:33:20 -0600 Trustees aims to raise £1 million Chair of trustees aims to raise £1 million a year for the Rix Centre

Rudi Mueller, CBE, chair of the board of trustees of the Rix Centre, hopes to raise over £1 million a year backing for the Centre.  “It is quite a difficult job,” he says of his fund-raising efforts.




These efforts have already gathered the support from the Aston Mansfield Charitable Trust, BP International Ltd, Bookend Enterprises Management Services, Inclusion International, Ken Lucas, the Jack Petchey Foundation and the Adolf H Lundin Charitable Foundation.

The latest filing with the Charities Commission shows that the centre gathered just over £400,000 a year for its research and development for multimedia for the learning disabilities community.  This has come from grant-giving bodies, corporate sponsorship, private donors and supportive charities.

Small charities can have greater impact with low administration costs Mueller has set his sights on building further on this success.  He realises that a small charity like the Rix Centre can have a large impact because most of the money goes into projects and is not swallowed up in huge administration costs.  This is why he decided to become a trustee.

Mueller has plenty of experience in the world of commerce and banking.  He was the head of the UBS bank in the UK.  His other board memberships included membership of the Royal Opera House when it was going through its difficult transition refurbishing the Covent Garden Opera House. When Mueller was on the other side of the table as a banker and was asked for charitable donations he recalls “it was easy to say ‘no’ to people asking for money.  Now I am on this side of the table it is quite a difficult job.”

Successful lunch hosted by Lord Rix
A lot of companies do accept their social responsibilities.  Mueller and the other trustees need to get the message over to the heads of these companies.  “We had a very successful lunch at the House of Lords hosted by Lord Rix,” he says.  He was able to tell captains of industry about the work of the Rix Centre.

“I still believe the banking world can do more.  It is easier to find somebody to give funds if you find a specific programme recognised by the Rix Centre, as far as the sponsor is concerned.”

Opportunities for branding projects
There are opportunities for the “branding” of projects for donors.  Many banks are in East London at Canary Wharf and are therefore located alongside communities that face real hardship.  The Rix Centre has used its position at the University of East London (UEL) Docklands Campus to build close working relationships with East London boroughs.

When considering becoming a trustee Mueller not only visited the Centre but also many of the people with learning disabilities and their families and carers in residential homes.  “It was a real eye opener.  I had never been directly involved in this field.”

Mueller was introduced to the Rix Centre by his friend Brian Baldock CBE, chair of Mencap.  Mueller wanted to work with a smaller charity where he could really have an impact, he says.

He saw that it is possible to use technology to help people with learning disabilities to know more about themselves.  “With a little bit of help they can know more about themselves and take up a job and even have a relationship.”

Building confidence for people with learning disabilities
He saw how much more confident people with learning disabilities can become, how much more of an independent life they can lead.  “In some cases after a few months they can learn to live on their own without their parents,” he says. 

Recruiting trustees
Mueller says he is not a technician: that is for the staff at the Rix Centre.  “I, together with my board, am responsible for providing the finances.”  Being a trustee is a responsibility and he is looking to recruit two or three other people to join the board.

The current trustees include: Jonty Rix son of Lord Rix and lecturer in inclusion, curriculum and learning at the Open University, Brian Baldock of Mencap and Anthony McClellan, businessman.

Mueller wants to diversify the board of trustees with women and people of different races and religions adding people with additional expertise and contacts.   Trustees have responsibilities.  “It is not just a nice line on your CV.  There are major decisions to be made on funding, new programmes and people.”

SCIE support
As well as the trustees securing more funding he thinks that government could do more.  The Rix centre works closely with SCIE, the Department of Health’s Social Care Institute for Excellence, co sponsor of the upcoming My New Media Life conference.  A small amount more from government can have a large impact.  The government does not give the level of support needed. “I am very disappointed by government involvement. The government should give more.  Our programmes and the work of the Centre are remarkable for such a small team.  With more funds this will be even better.”

The policies are there but the funding does not always match it and sometimes neither do the actions of government.

Parents deserve a medal
Perhaps if more potential sponsors of the Rix Centre could make the same trip that Mueller did, visiting the Centre and meeting the people it helps, they would be persuaded.  “Some parents deserve a medal every day for what they do to support their child with learning disabilities,” Mueller says.

The Rix Centre is fortunate to be based at UEL, he says.  The University helps with offices and infrastructure as well as expertise in its field.

To develop on its current success, Mueller thinks the Rix Centre needs more people and more work to promote its achievements. He would like to be able to make a stronger case to government and better presentations to potential sponsors. But it is all related back to cash.   “It is difficult to raise enough funds to realise the business plan of the Centre,” he concludes.

 

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:50 -0600 E Foliios E folios provide a format for the storage, retrieval and display of user-generated content and those developed by the Rix Centre enable people with learning disabilities to use these innovative new tools themselves. E Folios can do so much more for people with learning disabilities than simply provide them with a store for their multimedia assets. At the Rix Centre we have developed their application for assisting communication, recording achievement, person-centred planning, self-advocacy and social networking – and we are frequently discovering other ways in which e folios can be a valuable piece of assitive technology for users with learning disabilities.

]]> Fri, 07 Dec 2007 12:26:26 -0600 Learning & Support Materials The Big Tree Website has been developed by the Rix Centre as an online home for everyone involved with the use of ICT and multimedia with the learning disability community. This large Website presents guidance material, instruction, review and commentary in a format that is accessible for users with learning disabilities with easy-read text and rich media, alongside more in-depth material for those wanting to read more.

The Big Tree’s Research ‘roots’ describe the very latest developments in the multimedia and learning disability field from the Centre and our partners with a catalogue of links designed to provide the visitor with a comprehensive account of this dynamic and diverse subject.

The Big Tree also houses the Rix Centre’s growing repository of learning materials developed for people with learning disabilities to use in the Lundin Learning Zone.  This is a resource for teachers and learners with a special focus on usability for learners with intellectual disabilities.

In addition the Rix Centre is developing some small applications or ‘widgets’ to address the special obstacles that the learning disabilities user might encounter in their routine use of ICT. The first of these is a device that helps you to makes mouse use less confusing by turning off the right click function.

The Big Tree’s learning and support services can be complemented with our teaching & learning services.

]]> Fri, 07 Dec 2007 12:26:26 -0600 Evaluation The best way to test whether the online communications that you devise for your organisation will work as intended for users with learning disabilities is to try them out with them! The Rix Centre has established a specialist Usability testing service in partnership with ‘Ellingham’, a local supported employment organisation. This enables us to offer thorough usability and accessibility testing with this unique user community.

We are able to tailor trialling according to the specific user group that your communication targets. Various different levels of user ability of different ages working on particular computer set-ups can be specified alongside other criteria required by the customer. We can conduct the full evaluation or work with an organisation’s own Web team or Contract developers to explore usability issues, either in the field – in typical school or community set-ups for example – or in the Centre’s own specialist facility.

]]> Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:38:24 -0500 Commisssioned Research The Rix Centre is able to develop research to order for organisation seeking to explore particular fields of multimedia and ICT use. We will work up customised packages of research with clients that draw on our specialist approaches of participant, ‘action research and development’ (R&D)

A key partner that we have developed this service with is the Social Care Institute for Excellence who are funded by the Department of Health to explore various approaches to Knowledge Management and develop best practice for Social Care in the UK. The Rix Centre has tailored a series of detailed action research projects with SCIE that have then been implemented and evaluated with the learning disability community in North Somerset and the East End of London.

As well as producing an analytical report for SCIE we have presented research findings in ways that are accessible to people with learning disabilities.

 

]]> Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:38:24 -0500 Rix Living Lab The ‘Rix Centre Living Lab’ is a trial site in which approaches and products can be thoroughly tried and tested with the people for whom they are designed. The Rix Centre has established a network of Living Lab participants in schools, colleges, homes, community groups, service agencies and businesses.

We can draw all sorts of different teams together to provide a social ‘laboratory’ where we can insure that we get the very best from the technologies available and trace their affect on people’s day-to-day lives.

The Rix Living Lab provides a resource that enables trialling in a way that is more thorough for being genuinely inclusive of people with learning disabilities. It also provides a platform for the implementation of new products and initiatives in the most challenging ‘real-world’ settings so as to ensure that they can survive beyond the ‘comfort zones’ in which they are developed.

Read more about the Rix Living Lab.

]]> Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:38:24 -0500 Rix Multimedia Techniques on "Planet Advocacy" Planet Advocacy, the magazine of Action for Advocacy, explores, in the cover story of its last issue, the increasing role of multimedia in advocacy, interviewing Andy Minnion, director of Rix Centre.
Action for Advocacy already have a history of working with both the Rix Centre and UEL’s School of Social Work as a result of past collaboration to deliver courses in Advocacy at the University. Advocacy is at the heart of the Rix Centre’s research, development, teaching and training. Andy Minnion, the Centre’s director uses the term "Multimedia Advocacy" to describe this specialist work for which the Centre has something of a growing reputation. In the feature the Rix Centre is described as the institution that is “leading the way in developing new approaches to working with people with learning disabilities through the use of multimedia”. For the feature Andy Minnion retraces the path of multimedia advocacy from its foundation “in the youth and community  media projects ...of the 1980s and 1990s" in which artists and media practitioners worked with various marginalised groups to create media that would challenge stereotypes. Moreover, he alerts Action for Advocacy readers to some of the risks associated with multimedia advocacy; “some teachers and teaching assistants have other agendas and see multimedia as simply a way of developing a student Record of Achievement. The danger is that the advocacy element and student ownership of the multimedia work can be lost. Multimedia is a chance to bring in these person-centred values to other professions. This is an example where it is important that multimedia is a process, not a product”.  The latest findings of the Rix Centre’s work and Andy Minnion’s research will be made available for everyone during “My New Media Life”, the conference organised by the Rix Centre that will take place at the British Museum on Wednesday 1st October 2008.

 
]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:50 -0600 Multimedia Advocacy Multimedia Advocacy uses digital photography, video, audio and computers to help people with learning disabilities to communicate more effectively. Using these tools they are able to articulate and express their preferences, choices, likes and dislikes, have more of a say in how they are supported and so participate more actively in their communities. The multimedia advocacy process provides a framework for professionals and service users with learning disabilities to work together with friends and families, learn from each other and improve the exchange of information.

Multimedia Advocacy is a way of framing, organising, and implementing good advocacy practice. It provides a method for organisations to review the support that they provide and helps them to deliver services that are genuinely person centred and inclusive. Multimedia advocacy improves the quality of service provided for people with learning disabilities and frequently promotes positive cultural change for support organisations in the process.

 

Download info on Multimedia Advocacy Courses

 

Or watch the ’Student stories’ to learn some more.

]]> Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:18:28 -0600 Graduates presentations from Waltham Forest and Redbridge The latest group of students from The Rix Centre’s Multimedia Advocacy training course have graduated. A ceremony was held at the Peterhouse Centre in Walthamstow to present each person and supporter with a certificate and a DVD of their final work.

Sharing people’s lives
Everyone who attended the course presented their Multimedia person-centred-plan to an audience of parents, friends and support staff from Waltham Forest and Redbridge Learning Disability services. Gosia Nowicka, Rix Centre Course Leader explains, “ The work was created in a very short period of time and everyone on the course has worked very to finish their plans before the presentation day. I think they have all done a great job! The work shown told us a lot about each person, their past, their present life and what they want for themselves in the future, we all learned a great deal from the experience.” Andy Minnion, director of the The Rix Centre, said, “It has been a real privilege to be able to share people’s stories and plans for the future”

Supporters learning alongside those they support
There were a total of ten students with learning disabilities and each had a supporter who also graduated at the event. The students have come from across East London to The Rix Centre to take part in the course, which have been a great success. Cathay Boyle, who supports John, said, “The courses have been great for me as a supporter, because it give me the opportunity to meet other care workers and build relationships with other local groups” Other people said how much they had got from the course by learning new skills but also making new friends and sharing during the process of make their work.


The start of something bigger…
The multimedia advocacy training course and the final work presentations really helps people with learning disabilities to communicate to a larger group of people about their needs and wishes. It also helps everyone to understand the different ways in which people with learning disabilities do communicate. Most people agreed that this course was ‘just a beginning’ for them and want to continue to update their person-centred-plan and use multimedia advocacy tools to do this. “We are hoping to see more people on the courses getting the best from the Multimedia Advocacy approach to supporting people in the future” said Andy Minnion, “this is an important tool for effective support and self advocacy for people with learning disabilities and our graduates are proving this again and again”

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:50 -0600 Multimedia Advocacy Modules Multimedia advocacy modules are aimed primarily at students and professionals who are or will be working with people who have learning disabilities and their families. The courses enable students to gain the necessary skills and knowledge that will help them to support this group of people in the light of the “Valuing People: A New Strategy of Learning Disability for the 21st Century” the UK Government’s White Paper.

It is common for key workers to be able to collect information about each service user and keep it in a file or a “personal profile” which is assumed to belong to the professionals who contribute to its development. The government’s White Paper is dealing with empowering people with learning disabilities and recommends that the personal profile reflects a person’s wishes and needs. Professionals need to find new ways in which they can include people with learning disabilities in creating their profiles.

Throughout all modules we maintain a critical stance regarding the usefulness of developing a Multimedia Advocacy Portfolio (MAP) and its place within society by considering ethical issues in terms of access and distribution of personal information.

Find out more about modules & courses.

]]> Wed, 22 Oct 2008 14:44:02 -0500 Multimedia Advocacy Graduation The Rix Centre’s multimedia advocacy student graduation ceremony took place on the 19th December. It was attended by people with learning disabilities and their supporters who have completed our Multimedia Advocacy Training Courses at the University.

Our students have used multimedia advocacy for all sorts of different purposes:

Paul Baker, for example, who is 32, is looking for office work and has been working with his supporter Jo to develop a multimedia CV. Paul currently works in a pub in Stratford, by developing his CV using multimedia he is able to capture and present his talents and experience in a dynamic format that he understands and is comfortable about sharing with others.

Heidi Cooper and her mother Susan have attended 3 short courses in succession to build multimedia advocacy skills. Her multimedia advocacy portfolio features life story work and represents some of her talents with a display of some of her paintings and drawings. Susan, her mother, has trained alongside her, and is an Art Student at Masters level with the University.

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:50 -0600 Jack Petchey Foundation donation The Rix Centre received a £30,000 cheque from the Jack Petchey Foundation at a ceremony held at UEL’s Docklands campus on Friday 28 March.

The grant will enable the Centre to continue developing an innovative range of projects aimed at supporting local people with learning disabilities, including the Newham Easy Read website, www.newhameasyread.org , launched in November 2007 to ease the transition from school to work for young people with learning disabilities.

Chris Bullock, Grants Officer at the Jack Petchey Foundation, said: “One of the questions I always ask myself when assessing a project is whether or not it adds significantly to the lives of young people."

“In the case of the Rix Centre, there was never any doubt in my mind. This is the second year we’ve supported the Centre and it’s wonderful to see how our funding has helped. £30,000 is an unusually high grant for us to offer, which goes to show how highly we rate the Centre’s work."

Andy Minnion, Director of the Centre, said: “We believe that with the right help a large number of people could become much more independent and self-supporting, so relying less on their parents and the Social Services and enjoying a better quality of life."

“With the crucial support of organisations like Newham Council and the Jack Petchey Foundation, we’re developing a wide range of multimedia tools to encourage engagement with the wider world. Computers are generally seen as anti-social, but they can actually provide a tremendous platform for social interaction and communication."

“It’s been wonderful to see how projects like the Newham Easy Read website have already inspired real enthusiasm and engagement among local people with learning disabilities.”

The Newham Easy Read website is supported by Newham Council and much of its design has been undertaken by local residents with learning disabilities. Ajay Choksi (27), of Forest Gate, has worked as a technical assistant at the Rix Centre for over a year, updating the site with simple advice and guidance for other people with learning disabilities.  

Ajay said: “I’ve really enjoyed building the site and sharing the things that I’ve learnt in my life so that other people can aspire to live more independently. For example, I recently achieved my driving licence; visitors to the website can follow simple guidance about how to approach both the theory and practical tests.”

Zeeshan Naseer (27), of Manor Park, helped to develop the Firstline section of the site, which aims to assist people with learning disabilities in finding rewarding employment.

Zeeshan said: “I’ve really enjoyed working on the project. I first came to the Rix Centre to learn multimedia skills, so it’s been great to put them into practice. I’ve now found a job as a receptionist at Stratford Village; I’m really looking forward to starting and hope that the site I’ve helped to create can enable many other people with learning disabilities find work.”


Lord Rix said: “At a time when 73% of all councils in the UK are planning significant cuts in their services for people with learning disabilities, the Rix Centre provides a far more positive example through our pioneering projects and community support. It’s wonderful to see how our work is already making a major difference to people’s lives in Newham and beyond.”

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:50 -0600 Graduation Video   ]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:50 -0600 Panel Session: Inclusive new media design Eight keys to designing inclusive Web sites usable by people with learning difficulties were revealed at the Rix Centre this week. A panel of experts pooled their advice for Web designers and came up with the top eight to improve accessibility:

  • User testing;
  • Design for assistance;
  • Use symbols to enhance accessibility;
  • Big is beautiful;
  • Use multimedia;
  • Personalise;
  • Go beyond inclusion and create something special; and
  • Integrate accessibility into the budget.

User testing
There is no substitute for real user testing, advises Ann McMeekin, freelance Web accessibility consultant.  Users with learning difficulties have to be involved with the testing early on.  

Design for assistance
Design Web pages so as to enable assistants to sit with those with learning disabilities and work together.  This includes keyboard control of what happens on the screen, says Nick Weldin, Multimedia Profiling Worker at Paddington Arts and a freelance.


Use symbols
Symbols, especially when combined with speech, can enhance accessibility.  Designers can use symbols for navigation or go as far as having fully “symbolised” pages.  “Anywhere you can use text you should be able to use symbols,” says Simon Detheridge of Widgit Software.

Big is beautiful
Make all the visual items on the page larger, advises Antonia Hyde of United Response, the learning disabilities and mental health charity.  Make icons, graphics and pictures large.  Make any control to change colours etc very large.  Make access points and signposts large.  And make help options large, says Hyde.  


Use multimedia
Use a range of media reinforcing each other to improve inclusion, says Jonathan Hassell.  Hassell looks after audience experience and usability at the BBC.


Personalise and go beyond inclusion
Create something special for groups of different users with different abilities, says Hassell.  What may work for one, does not work for another.  For example, what works for the blind may not work for those with learning disabilities.

Integrate accessibility into the budget
Do not put accessibility features as a separate line item in a budget, warns McMeekin.  It is then far too easy for managers who control budgets to cut it in order to lower the costs of the project.  

The panel of experts was convened and chaired by Andy Minnion, director of the Rix Centre.  It completed the Centre’s Inclusive New Media Design (INMD) courses.  Designers spend two or seven days debating accessibility issues and developing designs alongside the learning disability community.

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:50 -0600 Expert Panel Video   ]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:50 -0600 My New Media Life My New Media Life examines the revolution in new media support for learning disabilities. Keynote speakers to talk of their experiences using new media. My New Media Life conference explores new media use for advocacy, support and social inclusion
The use of new media to improve the social care for people with learning disabilities is the subject of this unique conference.  It will be held at the British Museum in London on October 1st, 2008.

My New Media Life will be led by people with learning disabilities.  They use computers, digital cameras, sound and video recorders in their daily lives.  They use this new media for advocacy, support and social inclusion.  They will demonstrate the tools and practices which are revolutionising support for the learning disabilities community.  

The conference aims to inform directors and managers of social care about the latest uses of new media.

My New Media Life is being organised by the Rix Centre of innovation for learning disability at the University of East London (UEL).  The conference will be opened by Lord Rix, after whom the Centre is named.

The conference is sponsored by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE).

First national guide map

The first national guide map of multimedia for those with learning disabilities will be launched at the conference.  It is being researched by the Rix Centre’s director, Andy Minnion, on behalf of SCIE.

This guide map will provide case studies to address the implications for:

• Person-centred care and the ‘Valuing People’ agenda
• Implementation of The Mental Capacity Act 2005;
• Individual budgets and self-directed services; and
• New roles for advocates and brokers in social care.

My New Media Life will show how new media is helping people with learning disabilities including:

• ’Multimedia advocates’ from across the UK - making their own digital portfolios for personal planning and day-to-day communications

• Social Networkers with learning disabilities from Swansea -  forging new online support networks with each other to help them lead independent lives

• Teenage web developers with learning disabilities in East London - building a new generation of online ’easy-read’ information for themselves and their peers

The conference will be held at the British Museum Conference Centre.  It will include exhibitions demonstrating model practice.  Delegates will have hands-on experience of the technology and be able to browse through the tools available.

Policy formers will comment on the growing use of new media in social care.

SCIE was established by Government in 2001 to improve social care services for adults and children in the United Kingdom.  It identifies and spreads knowledge about good practice to the social care workforce.  SCIE supports the delivery of transformed, personalised social care services.  www.scie.org.uk

BP is a sponsor of My New Media Life.

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:50 -0600 Rix Centre and BBC together in a research programme The BBC has completed a research programme with the Rix Centre to find out how people with learning disabilities use media.
Twelve young people with learning disabilities monitored their use of media daily.  They monitored how often and when they used radio, computer games, the Internet and mobile phones.
They composed daily diaries for a week.  They used stickers and their own text comments to log their use of media.
The main outcomes of this research for the Rix centre were:

- People with learning disabilities use their mobile phones less than was expected;
- About half of them have Internet access at their homes;
- They were avid watchers of Big Brother.

The BBC will use this research as a baseline for evaluating some of their services and how they can be improved for their audiences with learning disabilities.
The Rix Centre will use the outcome of this and other research to inform its input to My New Media Life, its conference in October at the British Museum to explore the revolution in social care using multimedia.
The research was led by Pat Staples, Rix Centre Web Project Manager, and Simon Evans, Technical Consultant to the Rix Centre.  It was conducted in collaboration with the BBC and the Ellingham Centre local employment service for those with learning disabilities.

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:50 -0600 Rix Centre on Channel 4 News Monday 30th of June, 12:20, Channel 4 News will show from the Rix Centre how web accessibility can be improved to help the learning disability community.
Dr Helen Kennedy, Project Leader of “Inclusive New Media Design”, and Nick Weldin, Multimedia and Learning Disabilities Specialist of Rix Centre, will explain the importance of accessible web design for including people with learning disabilities in the online community.

Inclusive New Media Design is a research project run from the Rix Centre which aims to identify the best ways to encourage web designers and developers to build websites accessible to people with intellectual disabilities.
A special thanks to Adam, from Tower Project , Donna and David, from Ellingham Employment Services, for their special contribution, which helped with the realisation of the report.

 

 


To find out more about the accessible design and the Inclusive New Media Design project:
Click here to read “Experts reveal eight keys to accessible Web design”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:50 -0600 CSUN 2008 Conference Andy Minnion, Director of Rix Centre, and Simon Evans, Technical Director, participated at CSUN 2008, the 23rd Annual International Conference on Technology and Persons with Disabilities that took place in Los Angeles in March. Feedback from the delegates was extremely positive and the Rix Centre was able to forge promising links with US-based practitioners and academics who were introduced to multimedia advocacy for the first time.
The conference has been sponsored by the California State University Northridge Center on Disabilities, and is the leading International annual Conference on he theme of computers use by people with disabilities.
This year’s CSUN Conference featured over 4,530 researchers, educators, practitioners, 125 exhibitors and was attended by a wide variety of persons gathered together to share research data, best practices, and preview new products and applications. Attendees ranged from teachers of the disabled and consumers with disabilities to techies from IBM, Microsoft and Apple.
Minnion and Evans delivered a seminar entitled “Multimedia Advocacy for people with Intellectual disabilities”, in which they showed the activity of the Rix Centre, its software tools, sharing the “Best Practice” developed at the Rix Centre for a global audience.
The next Conference of CSUN will be held in March 16-21, 2009 at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott and Renaissance Montura Hotels.

Click here to read the presentation of “Multimedia Advocacy for people with Intellectual disabilities”

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:50 -0600 Photo Gallery

]]> Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:35:26 -0500 The Big Tree Blog




The Big Tree blog site is launched. We will be posting info here about the work that we have been developing and software we have made or found that can useful for working with people with learning difficulties. Nick Weldin will be writing about things that are helpful for people with more profound learning difficulties.

You can find out about the latest open source software we have been using with people with learning disabilities to surf the web and guidance for extending your browser by installing various plug-in’s like ‘Cooliris’ that allow you to explore sites like ‘YouTube’ or ‘Google Images’ as a visual interface. This has massive potential for people with learning disabilities to able to access these kinds of sites more easily. Nick will be discussing this work and many other things that we are currently working on here at The Rix Centre.

We hope that this site will be come a resource for people who want to get more involved and to adopt some of the techniques being demonstrated on the blog. The idea is that we can share this information and create a community around the use of this way of working with people who have a learning disability.

Visit The Big Tree blog, to join in and to have a say.

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:50 -0600 Presentations Roadmap For New Media And Social Care
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: learning disability)
People & Places
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: learning disability)
Common Knowledge1+2
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: learning disability)
Newham Easy Read Website
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: learning disability)
The Road Ahead
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: learning disability)
Hear My Voice
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.
Mencap New Media and Business Enterprise
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: british museum)
]]> Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:35:26 -0500 Age Concern England Project The Rix Centre recently completed a programme of action research, commissioned by Age Concern England as part of their campaign to tackle the social exclusion of older people with dementia who experience lack of mental capacity.

Age Concern England is a federation of over 370 charities concerned with the needs and the interest of the elderly population in the United Kingdom.

The Age Concern England Project aimed to look at the nature and extent of social exclusion of older people who are seen as ‘lacking mental capacity’ and to explore the ways in which this situation can be improved.

Through the use of ‘Multimedia Advocacy’ methods, the views and experiences of older people who have dementia, or have lacked mental capacity, have been solicited and captured.

The project was led by Gosia Nowicka, Researcher for the Rix Centre, Pippa Sweeney, Research assistant, and Andy Minnion, Director of the Rix Centre.

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:50 -0600 The Mission The objectives of the charity are to transform the lives of people with learning disabilities, their carers and families by developing and exploiting multimedia technology. Multimedia technologies can help people with learning disabilities compensate for the problems they have with memory, communication and social interaction. These lead to an improved integration into society, the ability to advocate for themselves and a rise in confidence. The charity also aims to educate the public, particularly those involved with the social care of people with learning disabilities.

 

A short History:

 

The Rix Centre is named after Lord Rix, known to many as Brian Rix, a celebrity of TV and Theatre in his earlier years, who is the Chancellor of the University of East London and President of Mencap. Lord Rix has campaigned on behalf of people with learning disabilities for over 60 years and is an enthusiastic advocate of the benefits of new media for this community.

 

The Rix Centre was established as a research centre at the University of East London in 2001 to explore the use of multimedia for people with learning disabilities. The centre’s reputation as a centre of excellence has grown and we are now working across the UK, bringing new models of practice in social care by using multimedia to give people who have learning disability a say in their lives.

]]> Tue, 19 Jan 2010 07:32:30 -0600 My New Media Life: Exhibitors Better Living Through Technology:
A website and a training service - will demonstrate the technologies used by people with a wide range of disabilities to access computers. Equipment will include alternative mice, keyboards and switches. Visitors will have the opportunity to try some hands-on use of assistive technologies such as head control and on-screen keyboards.
www.bltt.org

 

 



Common Knowledge:
An opportunity for people to join the Common Knowledge social network, to try out CKUK online resources and meet some of the team that have pioneered this work in Glasgow.
www.ckglasgow.org.uk

 

 

 



CDSM and the Swansea Community Lives Consortium:
CDSM will demonstrate its “People & Places” online social network designed for people with learning disabilities. Staff and service users from the Swansea Community Lives Consortium will share their experience of using the software
www.cdsm.co.uk

 

 



HFT:
Social care providers HFT will demonstrate their Big Lottery Fund project developing the use of multimedia technology for person-centred planning. The stand will feature literature about HFT and their work involving new media and Assistive Technology. HFT will have a calendar available to view, that features photographs taken by people involved in the project.
www.hft.org.uk

 

 



Mencap:
Staff and service users from Mencap showing how they use digital video production with people with learning disabilities to include them in the development and delivery of training for best practice support. Video shooting and editing work in progress on the subject of understanding ‘challenging behaviour’ will be demonstrated by this inclusive production team.
www.mencap.org.uk

 

 



The Rix Centre/London Borough of Newham
The Rix Centre’s display stand will feature The Newham Easy Read website, produced with the local authority team and service users as part of ‘The Road Ahead’ research programme with SCIE. Some of the project’s 40 ‘easy-build’ websites will be shown by the people with learning disabilities who created them alongside support staff.
www.newhameasyread.org
www.rixcentre.org

 

 



Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE)
SCIE will be explaining its role in UK social care and demonstrating its new e-learning resources for social care students and practitioners.
www.scie.org.uk

 

 

 

 

 


United Response:
United Response will show its multimedia person-centred communication tool, “About Me and My Life” which it has created for people with learning disabilities. The resource is to help people with communication impairments or people who prefer to use visual or audio resources to communicate things that are important to them.
www.unitedresponse.org.uk

 

 

]]> Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:35:26 -0500 My new media life: Sessions Conference presentation sessions


Session 1: Transforming lives with new media
Social networking for people with learning disabilities:

“People & Places” is an online social network for people with learning disabilities. It helps service users create an online social network to support them in independent living.  The Swansea Community Lives Consortium demonstrates how “People & Places” and other media tools can be used.
Person-centred planning with new media: Person-centred plans can be developed using new media.  The Big Lottery has funded a national project to develop and promote PCPs using new media tools.  Two service users from HFT and the project managers describe this innovative use of new media.
New media for the inclusive business enterprise: The workplace can be a challenging environment for people with learning disabilities.  Mencap, in the cafeteria of its Dilston College, uses touch screens, mobile computers and rich media tills to model an inclusive workplace.  The college aims to migrate these technologies to laundry and car-wash businesses.

People and Places presentation (ppt)

Session 2: New media, new practice

Hear my voice! Training for Multimedia Advocacy in action: 

The ability of people with learning disabilities to advocate for themselves can be greatly enhanced by using multimedia.  Graduates of the Rix Centre Multimedia Advocacy programme share their experiences of how they put their training into practice for communication, self advocacy and human rights.  The health action planning work, currently under development in Tower Hamlets  Primary Care Trust, will also be previewed.
New support networks:  The UK’s most established social network for people with learning disabilities is Common Knowledge.  The project developers discuss setting it up and running it as well as the launch of the first online magazine for the same community.


New Media – ethical dimensions: The use of new media raises ethical issues for the service users, the professional carer and the family supporter.  HFT, with one of their service users and his family probe the issues.

Session 3: New media futures

Beyond the road ahead: The Newham Borough of London Easy Read Web portal is an innovative solution to providing accessible information for people with learning disabilities.  It is the latest project in the R&D programme led by the Rix Centre and SCIE called ‘The Road Ahead’.  This features a cluster of high-accessibility web sites made with people with learning disabilities which feeds into Newham’s portal and provides a platform for service user participation and peer support. Project staff and young web developers with disabilities will describe their development of “easy-build” websites.

A new media “Roadmap” for social care: There is a wealth of different opportunities for the applications of new media for the social care of people with learning disabilities.  With this roadmap, service users, families and professional carers can consider the range of possibilities and the development the existing technologies may take in the future.

]]> Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:35:26 -0500 The R&D Centre The Rix Centre researches and develops different ways that multimedia can help to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities and their supporters.

We design websites that are innovative and accessible and we work with people with learning disabilities, their families and professionals to test them out.

We provide web production services, research & consultancy for groups and organisations, sharing our expertise in making content accessible for users with learning disabilities.

We offer training courses for people with learning disabilities and their supporters including, social care workers, teachers, parents and peers.

We share best practice with practitioners, academics, policy-makers and people with learning disabilities themselves.

We have a website for multimedia & learning disability practitioners called ‘The Big Tree’ that serves as an online home for practitioners who these innovative and uniquely effective ways of improving people’s lives.

]]> Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:41:05 -0600 "My New Media Life" press release Government encourages pioneering work at Rix Centre to transform the lives of people with learning disabilities


The Government has called for more new media developed by the Rix Centre to be used to support the struggle for equality for people with learning disabilities
Lord McKenzie, Parliamentary Under Secretary at the department of Work and Pensions, said this week: "I am very impressed by the way the Rix Centre and others are using multimedia to help people with learning disabilities to communicate more effectively.


"It is clear that the young people taking part in these projects have become more confident and feel really liberated at being able to express themselves in their own way."


Speaking at the Rix Centre’s My New Media Life conference this week Lord McKenzie said: "New media can play a vital role:  by empowering those who find it difficult to get their view heard; empowering them to be truly involved in shaping their care and support; and empowering them to play an active part in the community."


The director of the Rix centre, Andy Minnion, said the concept of using multimedia to transform the lives of people with learning disabilities is proven.  "We need to gear up so that the technology is embedded in standard practice in care for people with learning disabilities."


There are 1.5 million people in the UK with learning disabilities.  They find it hard to organise their thoughts, to remember things and often find communication and socialising difficult.  Multimedia technology can radically improve their lives as long as it is designed so that people with learning disabilities can use it.


Lord McKenzie praised The London Borough of Newham, which is working closely with the Rix Centre on using multimedia for the learning disabled community. "This is one example of the great work local authorities are doing in this area and the significant impact they can have."


The government’s advocate for the best practice in social care, the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE), called at the conference for the wholesale adoption of this technology developed by the Rix Centre. 

Allan Bowman, chair of SCIE, said he did not want the diffusion of this approach from one authority to another to be a “leakage”.  “We need a deluge from one Borough to another,” he said.


My New Media Life presented the state-of-the-art of new media to support the learning disabilities community to 170 delegates from local authorities, directors and mangers of social care.  Its focus was on the experiences of people with learning disabilities, their carers and families.


The conference was opened by Lord Rix, after whom the Rix centre is named.  

The Rix Centre is a research and development centre and charity committed to realising the benefits of new media technology to transform the lives of people with learning disabilities.  The 1.5 million people with learning disabilities in the UK, their families and carers can have their quality of live radically improved by the appropriate use of new technology.

The Rix Centre is based at the Dockland’s campus of the University of east London.  It was formed in 2004.

Photos of Lord McKenzie, Andy Minnion, Lord Rix and a group photo of the people with learning disabilities involved at the conference is available from the Rix Centre Web site www.rixcentre.org.


For more details contact Andy Minnion, Rix Centre, 020 8223 7561.

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:50 -0600 'My New Media Life' in The Guardian

"New technology holds the key to supporting people with learning disabilities, says charity". Under this headline the Guardian online features the ’My New Media Life’ event.

In this article, Andy Minnion, the Rix Centre’s director, explains to Sara Gaines how ’My New Media Life’ represents a starting point for a "multimedia revolution" in the world of social care.

Click here to read the full article

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:50 -0600 Conference at the Royal Society of Medicine, 23 April 2010 Conference at the Royal Society of Medicine on 23 April 2010: The place of new media in the Care and Education of people with intellectual disabilities.

This conference day is designed to provide an up to date overview of the innovative ways in which new multimedia technologies and practices are currently being used to improve the provision of inclusive care and education for people with intellectual disabilities in the UK.  The seminar will draw on innovative work in education, health and social care practice that may inform a future model of technology assisted support and provision for people with intellectual disabilities.

The event is hosted by the RSM Intellectual disability group and will be led by the Rix Centre who will chart the field in partnership with people with learning disabilities who are pioneering this work. The conference will provide models of contemporary practice alongside an account of the origins and possible futures of this exciting field.
 
 Leading researchers and practitioners will also provide an in-depth account of the implementation of this unique way of working and analyse the potential benefits for patients, learners and service-users with intellectual disability.
]]> Tue, 12 Jan 2010 04:32:35 -0600 Video Clips Of the day

]]> Mon, 20 Oct 2008 10:35:26 -0500 Tower Hamlets Champions become Media Pros Three service users from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets were selected to work with the Rix Centre as ’Multimedia Champions’ on a project that aims to improve healthcare across the borough for people with learning disabilities.

The three Champions helped the Rix Centre run a series of workshops across the borough for the Tower Hamlets 6 Lives project. During the course of the project the Champs learnt interview techniques and were trained in multimedia advocacy and video production techniques to capture the experiences and points of view of people with learning disabilities. They went on to contribute to the editing process and video post-production which resulted in the creation of a 6 lives Project DVD

The workshops used the Multimedia Advocacy approach to capture the experiences that participants, many with profound disabilities and complex needs, have had using healthcare services in the borough.

With their own experiences of having learning difficulties and living in the borough, the three Champions, Juber, Sadi and Eftihar, were able to bring a unique perspective and richness to the interviewing, filming and editing process. ’We’ve loved coming here’ said Sadi ’we’ve learnt so many new things’. Now that they’ve cut their teeth on media techniques the Champions are determined to take their new skills further. ’I’ll definitely be adding this work to my CV’ said Juber, ’I really enjoyed interviewing people and I want to do more work like this.’ The Champions presented the project’s findings and final DVD to the Tower Hamlets 6 Lives’ Panel in November 2009.
]]> Tue, 12 Jan 2010 06:44:56 -0600 Multimedia Student Stories Students and supporters tell us about their experiences and the way they worked together to create their ’Person-centred profiles’ as part of the multimedia advocacy training course.

Joseph and his supporter learned a lot from each other and found new ways to communicate together.

 

 

 

]]> Thu, 11 Dec 2008 17:49:11 -0600 Samina Samina found that working with a family member, in this case her sister-in-law, it has given her the opportunity to tell her family more about what she wanted.

 

 
]]> Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:40:31 -0600 John & Cathay John has limited communication and by doing the multimedia advocacy training Cathay his supporter was able to learning new ways of understanding what John wanted to communicate. It is now recorded for others to use as a guide.

 

 
]]> Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:39:32 -0600 First Line Video   ]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:50 -0600 Laura's story Laura Sparrowhawk and Rasime Singh first started working together during a ten-week course at The Rix Centre where Laura has been able to create and develop her own website. She was taught how to plan and present her ideas by using the easy build template.
Laura is now 27 and is been working with Newham Borough Council for 3 years. She carries out day-to-day office duties, such as opening the post, photocopying, filing, typing and sending out letters. Laura has been keen to carry on, with the support of Rasime, in the planning and development of her own website. She works independently and also contributes a lot of ideas during the brainstorms for the contents of the sites. She also writes the text and takes the pictures to support her ideas, and uploads these along with the audio that we record together for her site.

As well as doing work on her own website, Laura assists Rasime in managing and collecting info for the “into Transition” and the “Community Team” websites, both running under the Newham Partnership for People with Learning Disabilities. Laura enjoys making pictures and recording her voice. Watch laura’s video.

]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2009 10:52:20 -0600 Multimedia Advocacy Graduation December 08 Five more people with learning disabilities, and their supporters, graduated this week from the Rix Centre’s Multimedia Advocacy Course.
So far over 1,000 people have graduated from the Rix Centre’s range of Multimedia Advocacy courses.

Each of the five had made a multimedia presentation during the 12-week course showing who they were, what they liked and disliked, and who their family and friends were.

The course helps people with learning disabilities build a multimedia profile which can be shared with carers and others so that they can advocate for themselves.


The course was led by Gosia Nowicka with the assistance of Deborah Williams and Ajay Choksi.

Over 45 people attended the graduation ceremony, some of them possible course members in the future.

Andy Minnion, director of the Rix Centre, told the ceremony: “This is just the kick off point.  Using multimedia advocacy, people with learning disabilities can communicate more of their wants and needs.  It helps them and their supporters.”

The Multimedia Advocacy Course is run every semester.

]]> Thu, 15 Jan 2009 13:00:50 -0600 Laura's video   ]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2009 10:47:30 -0600 Jodi Award 2008

"Outside In Pathways" won the 2008 Jodi Award for their project in which a group of people with learning disabilities made films using digital technologies at the V&A Museum, London.

The event, held at the V&A Museum, was introduced by Andy Minnion, director of the Rix Centre. Tony Cave was one of the members of the winning project to display his work at the event (see picture).

Tony enjoyed being part of the project and liked drawing and sticking pictures as part of collage making. He would really like to be involved in more projects in the future.

Named in memory of Jodi Mattes (1973-2001), who worked as part of the British Museums’ web team and later in the NAB, the awards honor Jodi’s efforts to ensure the museum’s COMPASS website was as accessible as possible. Jodi’s parents, Harry and Estha Mattes, and sister Sara, attended the award ceremony.

]]> Fri, 15 May 2009 09:32:46 -0500 Multimedia advocacy graduation 2009

]]> Thu, 21 May 2009 07:48:46 -0500 Exclusive Interview With Lord Rix

People with learning disabilities have a skilled and doughty fighter for their cause among the powerful in government and parliament: Lord Rix.

 

“Practically every domestic bill going through Parliament affects the lives of the 1.5 million people with learning disabilities and their families,” he says.

 

“The battles never really stop.”

 

Lord Rix, at 85, examines in detail the laws Parliament passes and represents the interests of the learning disability community.  He is supported by a research office at Mencap, the first such parliamentary research office outside parliament which Rix argued for and got established in 1981.

 

The speech he made in early June on the Apprenticeship, Skills, Children and Learning Bill is a clear example of his championing work.

 

65 percent of people with learning disabilities want to work: only 17 percent have work

 

He told the House: “The Bill quite rightly recognises that disabled people, particularly people with a learning disability, have been desperate for more education provision that leads them to meaningful, full-time, paid employment and an adult life.  Only 17 percent of people with a learning disability are estimated to be in employment, while 65 percent want to work. 

 

“Sadly, this is almost starting to feel like a permanent statistic, as I have been highlighting it continuously in my role as president of Mencap, the charity representing the United Kingdom’s 1.5 million people with a learning disability.  The past decade has seen many plans and policies put forward that are intended to help people with a learning disability to find work. 

 

“It is a tale of sound and fury signifying nothing, for employment levels have remained stuck at around 17 percent, compared with 49 percent of all disabled people. 

 

“I look forward to the day when I can stand up in this House complaining about the employment of people with a learning disability being at only 40 percent to 50 per cent, and I hope that this year’s legislative programme will help to take us to that point and beyond.”

 

Winning funds for short breaks

 

His words are backed with action.  He proposed as long ago as 1995 that people with learning disabilities and their carers are funded for short breaks.  Eventually he got the funding included in the last Children and Education Bill and now £400 million is allocated to pay for them over three years.

 

And on the day we interviewed Lord Rix he asked a penetrating question of the government: “Is the Minister aware that in 2007 and 2008 there were approximately 7,000 prosecutions for racially motivated crime and yet only 141 prosecutions for disability hate crime?  Does this mean that disability hate crime is much less of a problem, or is it simply that the Crown Prosecution Service and the police are failing to take it as seriously as other hate crime?”

 

A rather shame-faced minister replied that the government had not collected statistics as well or as accurately as it should.  The figures underestimated the number of disability hate crimes, the minister said, pledging to get to grips with the statistics.

 

Coordinating pressure

 

Lord Rix helps to coordinate the work of MPs and Peers interested in learning disabilities in Parliament.  He is joint chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Learning Disabilities.  Its last meeting, which Lord Rix chaired, attracted 15 MPs and peers and 43 others to a discussion on how the Equalities Bill going through Parliament would affect people with learning disabilities.  Lord Rix has no party affiliations: sitting as a “cross bencher”.  As such has influence in any and all parties.

 

He not only works on the stage of the House of Lords.  “There is a lot of work ‘off stage’ talking to ministers,” Lord Rix says.

 

Using fame to get heard

 

It was his success on the stage which led him to his current championing role.  His daughter Shelley was born with Down’s syndrome in 1959.  By 1961 he was lobbing and fund raising to champion the cause of all people with learning disabilities in the country.  He used his fame as an actor to open doors others could not and to get heard where others could not be heard.  

 

He met the then Minister of Health, Enoch Powell, to ask if the parents of newly born babies with learning disabilities could be told of their local support society.  Powell told him that the NHS was not a “postal service” and that it was “absolutely unnecessary” and doctors and nurses knew how to handle it.

 

“In the 1940s, 50s and even the early 60s parents of children with Down’s syndrome were told to put the child away in care, forget them and to start their lives again,” Lord Rix says.

 

Inclusion

 

Today Lord Rix has a single word of advice for parents with learning disabilities.  “Inclusion".  They need to be accepted as part of the human race.  Included in sport, in schools, in holidays.  Whatever they can attain they show with their attainment their value.  Until 1970 many people with learning disabilities were considered uneducable.  They were considered second rate, the established view was for a long time that people with learning disabilities had nothing to say.

 

“This is where the Rix Centre helps so much.  It helps them to communicate.”

 

Lord Rix is only the second person made a peer for his work in the charity sector.  He is only the third peer who was an actor, following Lawrence Olivier and Bernard Miles.

 

On the boards again

 

Lord Rix not only operates in the House of Lords and “off stage” lobbying government but he is taking a one-man show on the road called Peer Around Whitehall.  That is a reference to the Whitehall Theatre, at the other end of Whitehall from House of Lords, where he managed his acting company and performed.  In all he gave 12,000 performances in 11 farces some of which he co-wrote.  His farces became a high point of TV when broadcast in the 1960s. 

 

In his one-man show Lord Rix talks about his years as an actor and manager on the stage where he was dubbed “The King of Farce”.  The review of his first performance, in Louth, called it “a performance fit for a king.”

 

His skills as a presenter have also been used to promote the issues of the learning disability community on TV.  He lobbied the BBC for a special programme and got a pilot slot for Let’s Go in 1976 which he presented.  It ran from 1977 to 1982.

 

A champion driven

 

What drives a man of 85, who could be resting on his laurels, to work so hard for the learning disability community?  Again, he is pithy in his comment: “Guilt.”  He feels guilty that he and his wife, the actress Elspeth Gray, took the advice of the doctors in the late 1950s and had Shelley put in a home, hence his strong advice to the parents of children with learning disabilities now to include their children in their lives.

 

Lord Rix uses his presentation skills as an actor, his organising skills as a manager and his commitment as a parent to represent the learning disability community to the public and the powerful. 

 

The community could have no better champion.

 
 
]]> Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:26:58 -0600 Care organisation 'Blown Away' by impact of Multimedia Advocacy!

On 24th September 2009 eight people with learning disabilities and eight support workers from RCHL, a leading housing and community care organisation in Essex and London, graduated from the Rix Centre’s Multimedia Advocacy training course at an event held in Whitham, Essex. The graduation event was a celebration and showcase of everything that the graduates had learnt over the course a twelve week Multimedia Advocacy training course at the Rix Centre. During the course each service user produced a multimedia Person Centred Plan (PCP) using sound, digital photography, video and text, and in the process discovered entirely new ways to listen, communicate and engage with each other. The PCPs were projected on a large screen at the graduation event as part of the presentation ceremony where the graduates were presented with their certificates.

Speaking on the day Paul Allen, Chief Executive of RCHL, talked about the impact of the Multimedia Advocacy project on his staff: ’It’s just been blowing staff away. They’re seeing things they’ve never seen before, they’re identifying ways of communicating with people, finding out things about their life experiences.....it’s fantastic that this procedure, this process, this project has enabled that to happen.’

 Summing up the project Paul Allen concluded ‘I feel that we’ve got a moral commitment to make this available to all the service users in RCHL, not just in Essex’ ‘so that is the challenge for us.’

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