GREEN SHOOTS OF HOPE

There is no doubt in anyone’s mind right now that we are in the midst of a situation that we could never even have dreamt in our wildest nightmares. We are all doing what we can right now to stay safe physically and mentally. It is difficult to see anything positive about the world that we currently find ourselves in.

I do, however, see green shoots of hope that I would like to focus on in this article. For many years now, we have been very aware of the loneliness and isolation that many people with learning disabilities and/ or autism face. People SHOULD have real lives in their communities but many don’t. There are many reasons for this. Sometimes it might be financial constraints, sometimes a lack of connections, sometimes a lack of confidence and sometimes the lack of community capacity to meaningfully include people with learning disabilities and/ or autism.

Even for those who appear to have busier lives, often, they are only busy during the day during the week. Ask them what they do in the evenings or at weekends and you are very likely to draw a blank. People will be stuck at home with very little to do.

Since lockdown, within VIAS and across our sector I have seen the most amazing creativity and deep thinking about how to keep people connected through digital platforms. Some examples include:-

-       Live quizzing

-       A virtual dog walk taking six people along

-       Virtual dance nights

The list goes on…………

There are groups of people coming together to think about how we can get more people digitally connected and active as not everyone we represent currently are. Many people sadly aren’t but we are doing everything that we can to make this happen.

Whilst I am not suggesting for a second that connecting virtually should ever replace being physically present with others, I do believe that there is something to be learned about new and creative ways to combat loneliness and isolation until such times as people with learning disabilities and/ or autism take their rightful places in society doing all the same things as everyone else. Lockdown when it finally comes will not be the end of lockdown for many people that VIAS represents and we should remember this.

I call on my connections, whatever sector you are from, to consider how you might help make this happen. If you have spare phones, ipads or whatever you might be able to do to help please message me.