Ecdp email bulletin 40 final
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Page 1 of 15 Monthly Bulletin 40 September 2012: Monthly Bulletin 40 This update includes articles on the following topics: ecdp news 1. ecdp running free training for disabled employers and their PAs in Thurrock Empowering the employer Personal Assistant Training 2. ecdp – Working with Skills for Care to support you as an employer. national news 3. The Paralympics are finally here! September 2012 Dear Members, Since the previous email bulletin, we have enjoyed the Olympics and we’re now two days into the Paralympics; the biggest international celebration of disability sport in the world. At ecdp we are very excited about the Games, and many of our colleagues have tickets to attend various events. Some were even lucky enough to attend the Opening Ceremony! If you would like to share your photos and experiences from any events you go to see, please get in touch using the details below. To mark the Paralympics, ecdp published a special edition of the ecdp magazine, which has been posted to members and will also be available on the ecdp website. In the magazine you can read an interview with the world’s best
Transcript of Ecdp email bulletin 40 final
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Monthly Bulletin 40
September 2012: Monthly Bulletin 40
This update includes articles on the following topics:
ecdp news
1. ecdp running free training for disabled employers and their PAs in Thurrock
Empowering the employer
Personal Assistant Training
2. ecdp – Working with Skills for Care to support you as an employer.
national news
3. The Paralympics are finally here! Paralympic Flame
Lighting Ceremony Paralympic Torch
Relay Celebrate the
Paralympics with Together! 2012
September 2012
Dear Members,
Since the previous email bulletin, we have enjoyed the Olympics and we’re now two days into the Paralympics; the biggest international celebration of disability sport in the world. At ecdp we are very excited about the Games, and many of our colleagues have tickets to attend various events. Some were even lucky enough to attend the Opening Ceremony!
If you would like to share your photos and experiences from any events you go to see, please get in touch using the details below.
To mark the Paralympics, ecdp published a special edition of the ecdp magazine, which has been posted to members and will also be available on the ecdp website. In the magazine you can read an interview with the world’s best known Paralympian, Oscar Pistorius, as well as many other Paralympics stories.
In this edition of the bulletin we also have an interview with one of ecdp’s members, who is working as a producer for Channel 4, the Paralympic broadcaster. He learned to run on blades for a documentary and talks about his experience in the interview on page 7.
September 2012: Monthly Bulletin 40
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Monthly Bulletin 40 – September 2012
ecdp member learns to run on blades
4. Skills for Care Accolades5. International
Volunteering: An Opportunity for Disabled Young People
Next month we will have an update on ecdp’s exciting new employment programme, Essex Unite. Until then, you can read more about the programme on the ecdp website.
Best wishes,
Faye SavageLived Experience Officer
We welcome member contributions to the bulletin, our website and the ecdp magazine. If you would like to write something, or comment on any of the articles in this edition of the bulletin, please get in touch with us using the details below.
If you have missed a previous email bulletin, they are all available on our website: ecdp monthly email bulletin.
Telephone: 01245 392 300Email: [email protected]: Ivan Peck House, 1 Russell Way,Chelmsford, Essex CM1 3AA
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ecdp running free training for disabled employers and their PAs in Thurrock
ecdp and Thurrock Borough Council are running two free training courses, for disabled people who employ staff and for their Personal Assistants. Details of both courses are below:
Empowering the Employer: Training for disabled people who employ personal assistants.
This peer-led workshop covers a range of skills needed as a PA employer, including:
Rights and needs – examining how Human Rights and physical and emotional needs are linked and why it is important to get your needs met.
Resolution – resolving difficult situations and elements of compromise when managing a PA.
Behavioural types – approaches to working with different types of people.
How disciplinary and dismissal procedures work – what you need to have in place.
Appropriate record keeping – A list of legal and necessary paperwork needed to maintain Direct Payments/Personal Budgets.
The training for employers will be repeated three times, on 27 September, 22 November and 21 January and will start at 10.30 and end at 15.30.
Personal Assistant Training: Training for Personal Assistants who support disabled or older people.
This workshop covers a range of information and skills needed as a PA, including:
September 2012: Monthly Bulletin 40
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September 2012: Monthly Bulletin 40
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Equality Act 2010 – basics of act and how it relates to being a PA.
Safeguarding – recognising abuse and what you can do to stop it.
Employer’s responsibilities – the responsibilities of your employer to you as their employee.
Best working practice – good practice and how you can be a great PA.
Lone working – risks and how to keep safe. Dignity in care – what is dignity and why it is important in PA
work?
The training for Personal Assistants will be repeated three times, on 28 September, 23 November and 23 January and will start at 10.30 and end at 15.30.
If you or your PA are interested in participating, please contact Faye Savage at ecdp: 01245 214 023 or email: [email protected].
ecdp news
Could you be an ecdp Trustee?
Could you help set the strategic direction at ecdp – a leading Disabled People’s User Led Organisation (DPULO) – which serves, and represents, the interests of disabled people in Essex and beyond?
We are a charity and company limited by guarantee and are looking for people to join our existing Board of Trustees/Directors.
To find out more, please contact the Companies and Charity Secretary, Margaret Watchorn ([email protected] ) or telephone 07546 597044.
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ecdp – Working with Skills for Care to support you as an employer ecdp is delighted to be working with Skills for Care to support disabled people in Essex and beyond who employ their own staff to access Skills for Care’s useful and time-saving resources.
Skills for Care wants to ensure the people who work for disabled and older people in providing care – often paid for by Direct Payments or Personal Budgets – have the right skills and qualifications to do so.
We know Direct Payments can be a very beneficial way of arranging your social care. But we also understand that it can sometimes take time to get the right information to feel fully in control. This is why ecdp is working with Skills for Care to ensure their useful information is made as available as possible to you. There are lots of ways you can get involved in this work.
We have already hosted two focus groups and will be holding one more, which all our members are invited to attend. The meeting will take place at 1pm on Tuesday 4 September. The meeting will be about ‘Building Your Qualification Card Kit’.
We can pay for people’s travel to and from the focus group as well as £15 for your time. If you’re interested in attending this focus group or for more information, please contact Faye Savage on [email protected] or 01245 214023.
ecdp news
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The Paralympics are finally here!
Paralympic Flame Lighting Ceremony
Last week, Stoke Mandeville Stadium was the venue for the official Paralympic Flame Lighting Ceremony. Stoke Mandeville is seen as the home of the Paralympics, as this was where the Games were started by Dr Guttman, who revolutionised the treatment of people with spinal injuries.
Four flames travelled from London, Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh and were united in the Stoke Mandeville Stadium to form the Paralympic Flame ahead of the 24 hour Relay, which concluded at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford.
Paralympic Torch Relay
The 24 hour Paralympic Torch Relay saw the flame carried 87 miles by 580 inspirational Torchbearers, working in teams of five, from Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire to the site of the Olympic Park.
The Flame travelled through communities in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire before visiting a number of iconic London landmarks, including Piccadilly Circus, Westminster Abbey, Downing Street and Trafalgar Square – each of which hosted live entertainment and sport screened throughout the Paralympic Games.
The Flame, which was carried in a miner’s lantern, also crossed the River Thames over some of London’s most famous bridges including Lambeth Bridge, Waterloo Bridge and Tower Bridge, which will have a spectacular Agitos (the symbol of the Paralympics) on display throughout the Games.
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Celebrate the Paralympics with Together! 2012
Throughout the Paralympics, the UK Disabled People’s Council (UKDPC) a Disability Arts and Human Rights festival that will be based at London Pleasure Gardens, a new artist-led venue opposite the Excel centre (one of the main Games venues).
The festival, Together! 2012, will be free and aims to provide a space for disabled people, families and friends to come together to watch the Games broadcasts, to be entertained, and to discuss, debate and raise awareness of our lives and culture and the issues that matter to disabled people.
A brief programme is available on our website and more information is available on the Together! 2012 festival website.
ecdp member learns to run on blades
ecdp member Paul Carter has recently learned to run on blades, similar to those used by Oscar Pistorius and many other Paralympic runners. Here he talks about his experience and why he took on the challenge:
How did you come to get blades?
It was for a programme that my company produced for the BBC documentary series Inside Out.
What was the reasoning behind the documentary?
There’s been a lot of discussion in the media recently about whether prosthetic blades give an unfair advantage, particularly after Oscar Pistorius began running against non-disabled athletes and then qualified for the Olympic Games. We felt that they’d started to be seen as these almost mythic devices - that anyone could put them on and suddenly they’d become a superstar athlete. With me, there was a unique opportunity to try and prove that’s not the case!
So, was the experiment a success?!
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Well, let’s just say that Oscar doesn’t have anything to worry about for the time being.
How did they feel? It must have been an unusual experience.
I used to wear full-length prosthetics as a child, so the height wasn’t such a shock, but the balance issue was very, very strange indeed. The only way I can describe it is like trying to stand still on a trampoline - they’re effectively giant springs, so they have a huge amount of give and bounce in them, much more than ‘traditional’ legs anyway.
How long did it take you to adjust to them?
A few hours to take steps unaided, and then a few more hours until I was able to walk confidently outside. It was a good week before I felt brave enough to try running on my own.
What would you like to achieve now you have them?
I’d love to attempt a 10k at some point, but for someone who up to now has never even run for a bus, that might prove a step too far!
How much do the blades normally cost?
The model that I have are the same used by Oscar, they’re called the Cheetah FlexFoot, and they can cost up to £3,000 each and are usually bought privately or with sponsorship. It is possible to get blades from the NHS, but it has to be proved there is a clinical need. This is usually for people who may have been very active before amputation for example, or who are using sport for rehabilitation purposes.
We understand you’re going to be working on the Paralympics coverage? That must be exciting.
Yes, very exciting. I’m taking time out of my day job at the company to work as an assistant producer for Channel 4. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to cover a games in your home country. One I certainly couldn’t turn down.
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Skills for Care Accolades
Skills for Care award Accolades to individuals or organisations who have improved the lives of people who use social care services through workforce development and a commitment to innovation.
Since the first Accolades ceremony was held in 2003, the popularity of the competition has grown to become one of the most prestigious and enjoyable events of the social care calendar.
Nominations for this year's Accolades are now open and will close on Thursday 6 September 2012.
The awards ceremony will take place on Thursday 14 March 2013 at Park Plaza Victoria, London.
The categories are:
1. Best employer of under 250 staff 2. Best employer of over 250 staff 3. Best individual employer who employs their own staff 4. Best provider of learning and development 5. Best employer support for social care Apprenticeships 6. Best employer support for newly qualified social workers 7. Best recruitment initiatives 8. Most effective new approach to service delivery
For more information or to make a nomination, see the Skills for Care website: Accolades 2012/13.
national news
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International Volunteering: An Opportunity for Disabled Young People
Invitation to Workshop - Recruiting and Supporting Disabled Young People as International Citizen Service Volunteers
Location: York St John University, YorkDate: Wednesday 12 September 2012Time: 9.30am- 5.30pm (lunch is provided)
Who should attend: Representatives from agencies and charities working with disabled young people, aged 18 - 25, throughout the UK.
The aim: To explore the International Citizen Service scheme as an opportunity for all disabled young people. To enable all young people to be proactive participants in global citizenship, making a difference to the world and potentially transform their sense of who they are. To learn from the pilot ICS scheme, hearing from returned disabled young volunteers and their project partners.
Discussions will explore:
the challenges and practicalities of international volunteering for disabled young people
the expectations before, during and after placement: how to ensure everyone involved has a happy and fulfilling placement
how to make the International Citizen Service scheme the promotion of ICS to disabled young people: supporting them
through the application process and preparing for departure
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This workshop is offered without booking fee; however places are limited and must be confirmed. Please book your place via Event Brite. If you have any queries, please contact Holly Rawlings, via [email protected] or 01904 647799.
national news
