What does Lockdown and the Coronavirus Pandemic mean for people with learning disabilities?
Our accessibility blogger Dan has written these tips which he has found helps him in these uncertain times…
Tips for people with Learning disabilities to help them manage this period
I know staying at home can be hard for adults with learning disabilities in this strange time, but I have some tips to help them manage this period.
My tips are:
1)     Try and make sure you have some kind of structure to your days – for example mine is: TV in a morning, bit of work in the afternoon, more TV on a night.
2)     Talk to someone at least once a day whether it be a carer you have, support worker, parent if you have one, or just even ringing or texting a member of staff of a group you go to, can be helpful.
3)Â Â Â Â Â Try and make sure you exercise at least once a day so that you have some fresh air inside your lungs, and gets you out of the house for half hour, an hour
4)     Don’t watch too much news as it can scare you
5)Â Â Â Â Â Do something you enjoy doing every day to help you feel more relaxed
Dan also wants to share why he claps for carers on a Thursday…
Every Thursday evening for just a minute, people all across the UK step onto their doorsteps or balconies and they clap, not only for the NHS staff who are keeping the country going,  but they’re also clapping for the carers who are having to work through these tough times.
I have lots of people who I see as carers: my parents, staff at CoActive, In the Sky, GT Care whether that be in the group or on a 1:1 basis, doctors, dentists when I have appointments.
I’ll explain why I see each of these are carers, and what they do for me.
Why I see my parents as carers is they take me to a couple of my groups in normal times, and they don’t mind dropping me off and picking me back up again, they make my food for me, and they do loads of other stuff for me, so that’s why I see them as carers.
Why I see staff at CoActive as carers are: they’re really helpful and ask if I’m OK with activities we do, and if they don’t think I’m doing something right they explain to me what I should be doing in a simple way , and then I do it again. They’re all fantastic at their job as well which helps.
In the Sky staff are carers, as they ask me what I’ve been up to during the week, and they listen to me. Performance wise if I’m in the wrong place on stage or I get a line wrong, they let me know and they let me do it again.
GT Care staff are carers as it’s in their name , and when I’m in a group which is on a Tuesday and Saturday night, they come and pick me up, take me to wherever we go, so on a Tuesday that’s for tea at a pub, followed by a game of bowling, and then they take me home when it’s time, and on a Saturday they take a group of us to Carlton Social Club where there’s darts, bingo, a singer usually although occasionally there’s something else e.g. a comedian, and then when it’s time they drop me off at home and they ask me sometimes if things are OK. I also have a 1:1 on a Friday who picks me up, goes with me to In the Sky, and then drops me off home at the end when it’s time.
Doctors and dentists are carers as they do check-ups so doctors is usually a health check every year and just a general checkup. Dentists are either for check-ups or for fillings if needs be.
How my Cares are helping me through this Covid 19 crisis…Â
The groups I used to go to have all got some kind of way of keeping members of the group connected in some sort of way. Whether it be via Zoom or an online chat group or DVD (such as CoActive charity who are making the DVD to hand deliver to their members each week as not everyone can get online. The DVD includes the normal sessions that the creative arts charity would normally put on for adults with learning difficulties).
So that’s a list of carers I have and why I clap for them.
