Laura Mitchell from Great Britain, one of the Special Olympics Wiki World Champions

The two day event is part of the Special Olympics Wiki World project, which sees the inclusive sporting ideals of Special Olympics Europe & Eurasia combining with the Rix Centre’s specially developed software and inclusive production approach, enabling athletes with intellectual disabilities to build their own wiki websites and open up a world of interactive web participation for themselves and their peers.

A group of Special Olympic athletes were selected in early 2011 to be web building ‘Champions’ for the project. The project has already seen the Champions travelling to Brussels, Romania and the 2011 Special Olympics World Games in Athens, to lead multimedia wiki workshops with athletes and unified partners from all over Europe. In late 2011 a wiki created by athletes was at the centre of a campaign presentation to ministers at the European Parliament in Brussels. The wiki carried a powerful message to the politicians about the importance of inclusion.

This April it is London’s turn to host the Champions from Belgium, Romania, Ireland, Austria, France, Italy and Britain. The group will turn journalist for two days, showcasing their new skills to produce a set of multimedia websites  sharing their thoughts and experiences as Special Olympians. Part of the workshop will see the Champions reporting on the build up to the London 2012 Olympics directly from the site of the Olympic Park in Stratford.

The two day workshop will take place on 26^th and 27^th April at The Rix Centre. Click here for the press release.

Rix Centre Director Andy Minnion and Multimedia ‘Champion’ Juber Ahmed were invited to speak at the event to help examine how digital inclusion research is put into practice. The opening address posed the question ‘is digital inclusion a dream or reality?’ Our Rix representatives took this opportunity to showcase the work of the Rix Centre’s ‘Six Lives’ and ‘Personal Budgets’ projects and the Multimedia Advocacy approach that was used. Through examples of inclusive media practice they illustrated that digital inclusion certainly can become reality.

Rix 'Champion' Juber Ahmed at the TEL Conference

Andy described how the work of Juber and other Champions on these projects enabled a progressive model of inclusive public consultation that was structured and made possible through the use of new media. Alongside this Juber shared what he learned through the work – a combination of video production and interview skills and assistive communication approaches such as using Talking Mats and symbols to ensure people of all abilities can contribute.

Speaking on his experience at the conference Juber said “The delegates really liked our workshop; they said it was brilliant and requested more information and access to the website I produced.” Andy was similiary impressed with the response, “By the time we finished our talk people were already tweeting about our work!”

The event took place at Sheffield Hallam University on the 17^th January.  Click here to see Juber & the Champions video work for the Six Lives project, or here to view the website that Juber produced for the  ‘Personal Budgets’ project and presented to delegates at the conference.

Young people with intellectual disabilities get involved making a Wiki in Lisbon

W2ID combines Click Start tools with a new set of training resources in a programme called ‘Klik In’ that will pilot across five European states in 2012. This project provides 80 UK learners and their teachers with free Multimedia Advocacy training. The project enables people with learning disabilities and their supporters in the UK to extend their skills and knowledge working with partners across Europe and will culminate in a web-based learning package that brings together people with disabilities from across the continent to benefit from Web technologies and training. Want to find out more? Visit the project website or download the project flyer.

Ajay recieves his certificate from Cllr Geoff Walker and Chris Bailey of Ellingham Employment Services

In special recognition of this achievement Ajay was invited to the Council Chambers of Waltham Forest Town Hall where the Major of Waltham Forest, Cllr Geoff Walker presented Ajay with his NVQ certificate.The event held on 16^th November 2011 was organised to celebrate this landmark accomplishment for both Ajay and the Ellingham Employment Service team, who were all in attendance.

By completing his NVQ level 2 in customer service Ajay has gained many skills which are already being put to good use at the Rix Centre.  “I am very proud of myself for completing the course”, Ajay said.

Multimedia Advocacy featured in online magazine communitycare.co.uk

The article discusses how MMA uses widely available technologies and software to enable learning disabled users to create individual portfolios. This is done using photos and video about themselves, which explains their needs, their likes and dislikes and even personality.

To date the Rix Centre has successfully trained 1500 professionals and service users. One of the success stories featured is Kath Field, a support worker from East Living in Chelmsford, Essex who took the 12 week training course with her resident Valerie and said, “I learned so much about Valerie and from that she has learnt to trust me… by putting aside one day a week that was just her and I”.  Click HERE to read the original article.

The HAFAD Team are raring to go!

HAFAD adopted the Click Start package earlier this year and began fund raising for an inclusive editorial team. In June they successfully secured funding to employ the three young web builders for a one year period, as well as one Team Coordinator to support them.

In the London Borough of Redbridge another diverse group, all graduates of the Centre’s Multimedia Advocacy course, have established themselves as the borough’s Click Start website builders. The ‘Woodbine Wiki Team’ based at Woodbine day service incorporate Click Start editorial duties into their weekly activities. The work has become a vehicle for their continuing self advocacy and skill development. They relish working together as a team and have acquired a real sense of shared responsibility and achievement as work colleagues.

Activities like these show how Click Start is starting to impact the learning disability community. Making information more accessible is only part of the story.

The Click Start project was originally funded by the LSC and delivered in partnership with Ellingham Employment Services. To find out more about Click Start please visit the Click Start website.

Maureen Piggot

The Rix Centre is delighted to welcome Maureen Piggot to it’s Board of Trustees. Maureen has been Director of Mencap’s activities in Northern Ireland since 1990. She has campaigned and successfully lobbied the government to introduce new legislation to protect the rights of people with learning disabilities. Maureen has experience of the public, voluntary and business sectors in South Africa, England, the United States and Northern Ireland. Maureen brings to The Rix Centre a lifetime of experience dedicated to improving the lives of people with learning disabilities.

Lord Rix, President of Mencap, joined with academics, professionals and people with learning disabilities to celebrate joint work carried out by The Rix Centre and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets to improve the quality of primary healthcare for people with a learning disability in the borough.

Lord Rix spoke at the 'Getting it Right' event in June

The event was a public showcase of three project’s instigated by Tower Hamlets in response to the Government Ombudsman’s ‘Six Lives’ report, which had highlighted how the healthcare system is failing people with learning disabilities. Speakers, including senior staff from NHS Tower Hamlets and the Learning Disability Partnership Board, as well as Professor Angela Harden from UEL, praised the Centre’s innovative application of new media. This work has helped the borough grapple with the issues faced by people with a learning disability in accessing primary healthcare.

Juber Ahmed, a member of the ‘Six Lives’ inclusive video production team, was on hand to describe his experiences of using Multimedia Advocacy to help local people have their say about healthcare. Debra Eary demonstrated first hand the importance to her of the Centre’s multimedia approaches, which she uses to articulate her healthcare needs.

Closing the presentation Lord Rix stated ‘we have had a glimpse today of a Local Authority and a Primary Care Trust ‘Getting it Right! It is a measured, professional and imaginative response to a very real challenge.’ The event was held on 24th June 2010 as part of Mencap’s ‘Getting it Right’ Learning Disability Week campaign.