In January 2025, some of us involved in this project met up together in Grantham, Lincolnshire.
Matty and Lisa from Sunderland People First, two of our team members, recorded this video to explain what we did.
We rented a house and team members visited across the week, spending time together, having discussions and writing letters to people.
For many of us it was the first time we have met in person. It was great to have time to stop and think and discuss things.
This project is funded by a research funder, NIHR SSCR (National Institute for Health and Care Research, School for Social Care Research).
Research tells us what people want in their lives, but we do not know how to make it happen. So, we are asking people for their ideas.
We sent over 150 letters to people and organisations including politicians, activists, trade unionists, writers, faith groups, third sector organisations, theatre companies and more.
You can read the letter we wrote below (if you click on the image the pdf opens in a new window if you need to zoom in to read) or click here if your screenreader requires a Word document.
We included a leaflet called Transforming Care? Are we improving health and care services for learning disabled people?
It included the targets made in the Transforming Care programme (that were all missed) and a timeline of promises people have made since 2011.
We sent the letter to try and start a discussion, about how to get people to care and act to improve the lives of people with learning disabilities.
We have had some responses already.
We are going to pull together all the different things people say in their responses.
When we have pulled them all together we will think about what’s most useful to do next.
It might be some kind of virtual or in-person event(s) to talk about what people have said.
It might be something else. We don’t know yet.
If you would like to share your thoughts please leave a comment on this post or drop us an email.