Learning Disabilities & Autism at Manchester Met

Thank you so much for coming, Penny! We are so glad you enjoyed the symposium.

Developing a working alliance measure for adults with intellectual disabilities: Focus group Primary researcher: Emma Gleave, Trainee Clinical Psychologist, University of Sheffield Research supervisors: Dr Gregg Rawlings, Prof Nigel Beail, and Dr Nik Vlissides

Professionals with experience of providing psychological therapy to adults with learning disabilities needed for research to develop a therapeutic working alliance measure for this population. Click here: forms.gle/L8TYrjxBBGhC...

Please share
@learningmet.bsky.social
#LearningDisabilityResearch

Please share! The @digitallifeline.bsky.social project is looking for family carers, supporters, and professionals to take part in a research workshop about their experiences of supporting people with learning disabilities who received free digital devices during the COVID-19 pandemic. #AcademicSky

A flyer for an online symposium with white text and speakers' photos on a brick wall background. Text reads: Wed 8th October 12-2pm. Religions, Faith Communities and Disability. Online symposium with speakers Dr Krysia Waldock, Bernice Hardie and Fiona MacMillan. Chaired by Dr Naomi Jacobs. Link to event via Eventbrite.

Please join us for a symposium on Religions, Faith Communities & Disability, 8th Oct 12-2pm, online. @krysiawally.bsky.social, Bernice Hardie and @jpuddlegoose.bsky.social will share research and action for inclusion in faith communities and beyond. Sign up: tinyurl.com/3pdjmn4d #AutRes #AcademicSky

Digital Lifeline - Downs Syndrome Association Researchers would like to hear from people with learning disabilities as part of an assessment of the government's Digital Lifeline Fund.

Thank you so much to the #DownsSyndromeAssociation for sharing our call for research participants.

Did you support someone with a learning disability with a free digital device they received during the pandemic?

Contact us to join one of our online workshops and share your experience:

Prof Chris Hatton has blogged about the recently-released LeDeR Annual Report 2023, including some worrying inconsistencies and trends there. "It looks like less attention and less scrutiny is being paid of the deaths of people with learning disabilities." chrishatton.blogspot.com/2025/09/lede...

Critical Health and Learning Disabilities: An Exploration of Erasure and Social Murder This empirically grounded book presents a critical, interdisciplinary perspective on social and cultural issues related to the health and wellbeing of people with learning disabilities. Through an exp...

"The book highlights the enduringly impoverished lives and premature deaths people labelled with learning disabilities experience globally and suggests that such structural violence amounts to social murder." @sarasiobhan.bsky.social

www.routledge.com/Critical-Hea...

Resources - Learning Disability and Autism Research Group People with learning disabilities, erasure and social murder This resource explains more about Professor Sara Ryan’s book, ‘Critical Health and Learning Disabilities: An Exploration of Erasure and Soc...

Professor Sara Ryan's new book 'Critical Health and Learning Disabilities: An Exploration of Erasure and Social Murder' is out today. There's a Plain English summary on our website: learningmet.mmu.ac.uk/resources/

Did someone you work with receive a free tablet during the #COVID-19 pandemic? We want to hear about their experiences through our @digitallifeline.bsky.social accessible online survey. They could win £100 for taking part!

#SelfAdvocacy #LearningDisabilities #AutRes #AcademicSky #DigitalInclusion

Three Years on From “Stay at Home”: Perspectives of People With Intellectual Disabilities About the Ongoing Impact of the COVID‐19 Pandemic Background People with intellectual disabilities were disproportionately negatively affected during the COVID-19 pandemic, but there has been limited research about the perceived longer-term impact....

"The Government just don't even have a clue about what the pandemic has done to people like me, with an [intellectual] disability."

Findings from research on ongoing impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic for people with learning disabilities. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
@suecaton.bsky.social

Iatrogenic injustice: an institutional ethnography of Fitness to Practise hearings The public has an important role to play in the regulation of health and social care, including raising concerns about harms caused by health and soci…

'Our investigation of the experiences of public witnesses shows that, from their standpoint, FtP hearings are experienced as inherently unfair.'

Follow the link to read more about findings emerging from the Witness to Harm project:

@francescaribenfors.bsky.social @sarasiobhan.bsky.social

BAP - 6704 Chancellor's Dinner Research Film V10

In this short video, Professor Sara Ryan, research group lead, and Professor Chris Hatton share more about the Learning Disability and Autism research group at @scswmcrmet.bsky.social @manmetuni.bsky.social.

#AcademicSky #AutRes #LearningDisabilityResearch #ResearchGroup #ManMet

On Friday, we had a great first meeting with a new oversight group - people with learning disabilities, autistic people & family carers. They will be giving feedback on our team's research. We've been calling them the Critical Friends group, but watch this space - they're working on a better name!

For more information about the @medmentalhealth.bsky.social project, along with useful resources for talking about mental health medications, you can visit the project website: medmentalhealth.net

#MyMedicationMyMentalHealth #AcademicSky #LearningDisabilityResearch

Do you know someone with a learning disability who got a tablet in 2021 through the Digital Lifeline Fund? They could win up to £100 for telling us about their experiences (with multiple chances to win!) and your organisation will get a thank-you payment for connecting us with them. E-mail us: digitallifeline@mmu.ac.uk for more

Please share!

Did your organisation support people with #LearningDisabilities to get set up with free tablets through the #DigitalLifelineFund in 2021? We want to hear from you!

#LearningDisabilityWeek #AcademicSky #AutRes #Survey #SocialResearch #DigitalInclusion #DigitalLifeline

You can also read #comics about the stories of people with #LearningDisabilities, #carers, #families, and #prescribers:

📖: medmentalhealth.net#page-a

#LearningDisabilityWeek #AcademicSky #MentalHealth

The Medications and My Mental Health Glossary says what important words about mental health and medication mean. For example, it says what a counsellor does.

Read the glossary: medmentalhealth.net#page-1

#MentalHealth #LearningDisabilityWeek #AcademicSky

The conversation cards can give some ideas for talking to doctors, nurses, and pharmacists about mental health medications.

Read the conversation cards: medmentalhealth.net#page-9

#MentalHealth #LearningDisabilityWeek

The easy-read question and answer booklets give more
information to help people talk about your mental health
and medications. They answer questions like 'what is mental
health?'

Read the booklets here: medmentalhealth.net#page-2

#MentalHealth #LearningDisabilityWeek

People with #LearningDisabilities are more likely to take mental health medications. The @medmentalhealth.bsky.social team have made lots of tools to help people with learning disabilities talk about their #MentalHealth medications.

🧰: medmentalhealth.net#information-...

#LearningDisabilityWeek

A Multi-Informant Approach to Exploring Connections, Disruptions, and the Multidimensional Elements of Transition to Adulthood for People with Intellectual Disabilities | Scandinavian Journal of Disab...

'[...] transition is more than just a process or an event; it’s an intricate body of parts that connect and affect each other'

Dr @francescaribenfors.bsky.social considers the impacts of transition on young people, mothers, and professionals.

📖 sjdr.se/articles/10....

#LearningDisabilityWeek

Six people celebrating around a sign for Learning Disability Week 2025.

It's #LearningDisabilityWeek! We'll be sharing more about our research, and some of the resources we've created to support people with learning disabilities.

The information toolkit has helpful tools to use and share with others who help with mental health medications like GPs, nurses or pharmacists:

Go to the toolkit: medmentalhealth.net#information-...

#LearningDisabilityResearch #MedMentalHealth

People with #LearningDisabilities are more likely to take medications for their mental health. The project sought to create a toolkit of resources to help people with learning disabilities be more involved in decisions about their mental health medications.

#MedMentalHealth #AcademicSky

Today, Dr @suecaton.bsky.social will be speaking with the STOMP steering group at the South Yorkshire Mental Health, Learning Disabilities & Autism Provider Collaborative to share information and resources from the Medications and My Mental Health project.

#AcademicSky #LearningDisabilityResearch

Preview of six posters produced by the UK Home Office which detail 'do's' and 'don'ts' of making web design and content more accessible.

How can we make web design and content more accessible for everyone?

#GlobalAccessibilityAwarenessDay #GAAD

Read more: ukhomeoffice.github.io/accessibilit...

On the left is an mage of a calendar page showing 15th May. On the right is the logo for Global Accessibility Awareness Day showing the letters GAAD in a dark blue, incomplete circle with a keyboard at the starting point of the circle. Both images are on a white background.

Today is #GlobalAccessibilityAwarenessDay!

#AutRes #LearningDisabilityResearch

Chris Hatton reflects on drawing others into activism. Shaun talked about patience - how to keep going when you’re not seeing change. Comments today about how the film Shaun made about benefit cuts 10 years ago could have been made today. Shaun: importance of mutual support and wellbeing.

After some great questions, Sara Ryan sums up some learning from this Activism seminar series. Activism is about collectivism - working together, standing alongside people, being good allies. It’s is about being bold. It’s about using the tools you can - there are many ways to fight for change.

Shaun asks people to email their MPs and talk to them about these issues. Thank you to Shaun for an excellent presentation and for sharing powerful films.