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.
