Voice of the Child 3 Webinars

I was asked to scribe three live webinars, held over 3 mornings in one week. There were some powerful stories coming from children's direct experience of the family courts system, and some lessons on how it could be improved.

The Voice of the Child - in more detail

Although this year's conference subject was domestic abuse, and the statistics make for pretty grim reading, it was a really inspiring week of meetings, because I was working with the Family Justice Young People's Board.

The FJYPB informs and supports the work done by Cafcass (Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service).

Stories of resilience despite difficult circumstances, responses to the Harm Report and most importantly: practical suggestions that could improve the way children are treated during this stressful period of their lives, amplifying their collective and individual voices.

Children's Trust Board - Merton

More work for sunny Merton - lots of great work being done! 

Here are some visual minutes from yesterday's meeting.

And everything one one page:

National Voices - Healthcare Illustration

This was a set of illustrations commissioned by the organisation National Voices to set out main aims and objectives both during and after our era of Covid-19.

More about National Voices here:

https://www.nationalvoices.org.uk/about-us

One day, if we're lucky, we'll grow to be old, and possibly quite frail.

Let's hope, once we're through all of this, that we end up caring more for each other, especially the elderly, infirm and those with long-term health conditions.

Live Scribing - Merton CIL

Below is my record of a 2 hour event from last week. The first remote annual meeting for Merton's Centre for Independent Living. The event is split into three sections 1) the board meeting, 2) theatre workshops, 3) a discussion of participants' needs.

Lots of eye-opening things happen when you're an able bodied person scribing for a group of disabled people. 

But what I'm always left with is admiration for people's resilience and comradeship, it's all very humbling. 

The BBC is marking the 25th anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act (8th November) with a month long season:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/disability#:~:text=The%20Disability%20Discrimination%20Act%2C%20passed,across%20television%2C%20radio%20and%20online.

Merton Centre for Independent Living - Poster of Trustees

Some more work for Merton Centre for Independent Living (CIL). This is a poster of the trustees. The aim of CILs is that they are run by and for disabled people. The aim of the poster is to make this fact visible and to shine a light on their work.

7 out of 8 of the trustees has a disability, they are all active vocal members of the local community in Merton, and their tenacity and strength always amazes me!

National Voices

I created these drawings for a recent campaign by the charity 'National Voices' to highlight the healthcare needs of people with disabilities and chronic illnesses in the current COVID-19 age.

Hopefully the report will help people get the care they so desperately need, and open up different conversations about the services people need to access.

More information on the campaign to be found here:

https://www.nationalvoices.org.uk/what%20we%20need%20now