Archives: Stories

Ben is a man in his 50’s with a mild learning disability. He is a member of a self advocacy group that meets every fortnight at Speak Out. Members talk about issues in their lives and develop the confidence and skills to speak up for themselves. The group has been talking about city life and … Read more

Carole is a single mum with mild learning disabilities.  She lives independently with her two young children and has no direct support from adult social care. Carole is devoted to her children and was devastated when they were placed on the child protection register. Carole was referred to Speak Out by the children’s Social Worker … Read more

Alan and Simon have been in an advocacy partnership for 8 years.  Alan has very high support needs, with limited speech and uses his own signing.  He also has a history of becoming aggressive with other residents in a group home where he formerly lived.  Alan doesn’t like meetings or authority and he gets very … Read more

Jenny is autistic and she has complex needs. She has very limited speech and uses some gestures to communicate. For the past 6 years Jenny has been living in residential accommodation that is part of the college where she is a student.  Now that she is 22 years old she has to leave college and … Read more

Jack is a gay man with a learning disability who needed advocacy support to express his views and access appropriate support around his sexuality. Speak Out introduced Jack to a newly trained volunteer citizen advocate, Bill. Speak Out staff facilitated a number of initial meetings supporting Jack and Bill to talk about and agreed an … Read more