Hi readers, it’s Kerry and Emily here, telling you about our visit to the Houses of Parliament this month. So much to share about the day, what it was like, why we were there, where do we start!?
Maybe why we went. We were invited by a brilliant organisation called Social Finance. Over the last 3 years, Social Finance have been measuring if People First Dorset (PFD) and another 14 organisations like us across the country, make any difference in helping people with a learning disability and autistic people to speak up.
They had been asked to measure us by the Henry Smith Charity, who heard that organisations like PFD really help improve people’s lives. However, because it’s very difficult for small charities like PFD to measure their impact, Henry Smith Charity decided they’d do this research to find out.
Well, Social Finance discovered that, at the very least, for every £1 spent by these organisations, they save £12 from health and social care budgets. That’s a lot!
So, an MP called Liam Conlan, who has a disability himself, invited all the organisations, along with Social Finance and Henry Smith, to the Houses of Parliament, to tell people about these findings.
I, Kerry, was also asked to sit on two panels, one being people with lived experience. I’d met the others on zoom the week before, so that was good. On the day, we shared our experiences, why it’s important to fund this work, and the dangers if groups were to close. We all agreed it would be bad for people with a learning disability and autistic people, and cost other services lots of money because people would reach crisis more.
Next week we’ll share more about our day, and also the other panel that I, Kerry, was on.
The writers of the Our View column are supported in their editing by People First Dorset - a charity led and run by people with learning disabilities with support from staff
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