Gerraint’s blog April 2021
On 14th April I attended an employment event in Blaenau Gwent organised by BNI South Wales, which is a business networking organisation. I spoke about the Engage to Change Project and how it works to support young people, their parents/carers and employers to overcome barriers to employment, gain work experience, internships and paid employment. I had some good feedback from those who attended.
I also attended the LGBTQ+ group on the same day, chaired by Sian Davies at Mencap. This is a regular networking meeting for organisations who work with people with learning disabilities that aims to raise awareness and organise events for people from the LGBTQ+ community.
I attended the Our Social Networks project workshop on Zoom on 23rd April. This project has been collecting the stories of 60 people with a learning disability through personal conversations with their friends, romantic partners or family. I recorded on an audio recorder about my experiences with relationships and friendships with Anna Suschitzky from Mencap long before Covid.
On 29th April I co-presented with Sian Davies from Mencap at a ‘Supported Loving’ event on Zoom. Supported Loving stresses the importance of good support in helping people with learning disabilities develop and maintain loving relationships.
I’ve been catching up with the Ambassadors this month and regularly hosting the weekly Fun Hour sessions on Zoom as well as presenting coronavirus updates – there have been lots of changes to the coronavirus rules lately!