Karen Scorer

Disabled people aren’t “choosing” to be sick.

They can’t “try harder” to be well.

It’s not about how hard we fight or whether we want it bad enough.

Disability is not a moral failing.

Many of us were just like you, until we weren’t.

Its one of the only minority groups you can join at any time

Gloriously Ordinary Sundays - 9th March 2025 — Gloriously Ordinary Lives So, it's the end of the I Open My Own Front Door, Do You? campaign… well, the start of it, I guess, as this was the launch week - but don’t think it’s gone away. In this blog I reflect on a couple o...

“I Open My Own Front Door, Do You?” is a powerful campaign from Gloriously Ordinary Lives and Learning Disability England — all about rights, safety, and having real choice over where and how you live.

Read more about the campaign and blog from @tricianicoll.bsky.social here: tinyurl.com/25jvme4f

Picked my copy up today - early to bed to read planned tonight.

National Autism Trainer Programme (NATP) Closing Conference

National Autism Trainer Programme (NATP)
Closing Conference
19 February 2025, 1230-1535
#NATPmentalhealth

In 2022, Anna Freud and AT-Autism joined forces to develop and deliver a ground-breaking autism trainer programme, commissioned by NHS England.

Follow along to find out what we learned.

🧵

Am I missing something with the new NHS priorities? The only reference to people with learning disabilities is a reduction in mental health inpatient stays? Really? Have I just travelled back 30 years? Nothing about poor general health that causes people to die almost 30 years early? Health checks?

Agree this will only result in more avoidable deaths and shocking health inequalities for people with a learning disability.

Alongside a mandate that promises a reduction in health inequalities and a move to prevention rather than treatment, this makes no sense.

Made the mistake of catching up on news after work. Result - very little sleep for me last night

This puts how I feel into beautiful words. Being human, curious and simply "with" someone is unfortunately not valued by services pushing for results, progress and a near constant state of activity. We need to slow down and walk alongside the people we are working with 💚

I have used this a lot as an Occupational Therapist when working with people following their diagnosis. Many people have found it incredibly helpful (I have always cited)

😬 such a short deadline window. Do you know if those delivering the training are eligible to be part of this? There are Trainers I work with that may be interested.

This is really helpful

I was today years old when I learned about the Mankoski Pain Scale, which would’ve been so helpful to have access to on countless ER trips/hospital stays.

#audhd #mankoskipainscale #health #neurodivergent #advocacy #selfhelp #spoons #spoonie #hospital #er

New hip day for the teenage boy 😬

Imagine if every branch of Waitrose or Tesco could choose its own IT systems. That is effectively what we have in the NHS with hospitals and Integrated Care Boards selecting the systems they use locally. This leads to numerous problems in trying to deliver health services.

Image: 2 people sat on floor smilling in conversation Text: Communication Adaptations Helping communication flow for everyone Free resources to download on our website. www.thrivingautistic.org https://www.thrivingautistic.org/resources-for-all/

Everyone has their own preferred way of communicating. We have free, open-source, downloadable resources to support Autistic adults in advocating for their workplace, healthcare, and family needs.
Find out more:
www.thrivingautistic.org/resources-fo...

Apologies I missed tonight #OTChat @otsusangriffiths.bsky.social - busy being mum and only just home from hospital with son 😩

Motivation

Experiences of neurodivergent burnout Every ND individual’s experience of burnout can be different and that is linked to your personal profile, neurotype, differences, etc. Please use this form to anonymously describe your experiences of...

ND adults, please help me with some research for my next book. I want to hear about your experiences of burnout as a neurodivergent adult (esp when autistic, ADHD, PDA, AuDHD)

docs.google.com/forms/d/1OyE...

The Autistic Burnout Conference 2025 is coming your way. Date TBC.
To be kept updated register here www.autisticadvocate.co.uk/autistic-bur...

Picture of a low battery being recharged

Out of office on for a few days and a slower pace to December planned. It’s been full on at work delivering training and recruiting and now it’s time to focus on my most important role as Mum. 16 year old has tests and procedures to make sure all is ready for his total hip replacement.

Congratulations 😍

Paragraph 26. Demand for assessments for ADHD and Autism have grown exponentially in recent years. Since 2019, the number of children waiting at least 13 weeks for an assessment for Autism has increased at a rate of 65 per cent a year, while for adults the increase has been 77 per cent a year. Activity has risen too, with services now seeing 33,000 people a month. But as of March 2024, there were still more than 70,000 children and young people under 18 and more than 50,000 adults waiting at least 13 weeks for an assessment for Autism.

Paragraph 28. There is no consensus around what explains the dramatic increase in demand for assessment for ADHD and autism. Some believe that it is the conversion of unmet need into demand for assessment as stigma has reduced and awareness has increased. Others argue that is the result of self-diagnosis induced by misleading discussion on social media. No matter the cause, it is clear that with services overwhelmed, many people who need help will be missing out. NHS England’s taskforce on ADHD will have important recommendations to make.

Is it possible that the increase in demand for ND assessments, which outstrip supply, is not in fact because of "misleading discussion on social media", but due to the decades of under-diagnosis leading to insufficient service provision?

Surely not!

#DarziReport

Guide: Basic Accessibility on Social Media - Access Living Easy, Actionable Ways to Make Your Content More Inclusive Social media tools and channels change fast (RIP Vine), which means that guides on how to use their various features can […]

If you aren’t sure how to make (or didn’t know about making) your posts here on @bsky.app work for disabled folks, here’s A Guide to Basic Accessibility on Social Media with Easy, Actionable Ways to Make Your Content More Inclusive. From Access Living:

www.accessliving.org/newsroom/gui...

While it may look like you go from 0-100 instantaneously. You were never at 0. There is no 0. You're running beyond 100 and trying to keep it all under control.

Are you 'over reacting' to something innocuous?
No. You are running far beyond capacity. You are reacting to everything. All at once.

I definitely recommend following @sedsconnective.bsky.social and @jgjanegreenmbe.bsky.social for great resources on #Hypermobility, Ehler's Danlos Syndrome #EDS and neurodivergency

New post from the much missed on social media Prof Hatton... chrishatton.blogspot.com/2024/11/soci...

Back on bsky. Please follow or point me to accounts #hypermobility #eds #autism #adhd #brain-body. WATCH THIS SPACE for super exciting #research due to be published soon from our group at BSMS @lisaquadt.bsky.social @sedsconnective.bsky.social @hmsacharity.bsky.social @sarahgarf.bsky.social

Welcome - good to see you here

Can't find an England/Wales equivalent to the 'Tell us what you think about the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults
(Scotland) Bill?' for people with Learning Disabilities? Have I missed it?

Does anyone know what the Scottish findings were?

www.parliament.scot/-/media/File...