University to host informative event for people with intellectual disabilities and their families

The Learning Disabilities - Future Directions event will take place on Wednesday, May 7 at the Binks Building on the Exton Park campus, Parkgate Road (9.30am-3.30pm).

There will be opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities and their families to network with representatives from groups such as the Canal Street Self-Advocacy Group, Impressions (St Cyril’s Neurological Rehabilitation Service), the Wirral Autistic Society, and Wirral Mencap, who will also be contributing to a discussion panel on what people with intellectual disabilities / autistic individuals need from health and social care providers.

Dr Basma Ellahi, Professor of Public Health Nutrition and Faculty of Health, Medicine and Society Associate Dean for Research, will open the day.

She said: “Engaging with people living with a learning disability enables us to make sure we include important perspectives which may otherwise be a barrier to informing and accessing research and care for this community. This event is a step towards better engagement and understanding of lived experience with people from the broadest community.”

Associate Professor, Dr Martin McMahon, will be discussing Health Inequities and Intellectual Disability: Spotlight on Cancer in Marginalised Populations to shed light on avoidable deaths in people with intellectual disabilities.

He said he is “delighted to be working with colleagues from the University of Chester”, including Dr Hazel M Chapman, with whom he recently edited a special edition of The British Journal of Learning Disabilities that covered health inequalities for people with intellectual disabilities.

For those interested in a career in intellectual disabilities, Charlie Ingram – Head of Operations and Senior Nurse in CANDDID (Centre for Autism, Neurodevelopment Disorders and Intellectual Disability) in the Cheshire and Wirral Partnerships NHS Trust – will deliver a presentation on the Clinical and Operation Career Pathway in Learning Disabilities at CWP.

Dr Steve Jones, Professor of Mental Health, highlighted that, for neurodiverse individuals and people with intellectual disabilities: “We only work on co-designed projects that contribute directly to the development of knowledge that can improve health and social care outcomes.

“Co-designed research allows experts by experience, from the outset, to shape future healthcare practices. Health and social care should be about what users need. We are fortunate to work alongside a dedicated NHS team at CANDDID, at CWP.”

There will also be a panel of service providers, researchers and educators discussing future developments in service provision for people with intellectual disabilities and autistic people.

Go here to book free tickets. For more information, email organiser Dr Hazel M Chapman at h.chapman@chester.ac.uk.