Living a full and independent life

This year, during Learning Disability Week, we want to show how people with a learning disability are reconnecting with friends and their communities.

During the pandemic, it has been very hard for everyone. However, for many people with a learning disability it has been very challenging as many people have felt isolated and daily routines changed significantly. Lots of day services had to close and people could not see friends or family.

During the lockdown, I had first-hand experience of this.  A very close friend of mine has a learning disability.  Prior to lockdown she had a very happy and independent life.  She had three carers who would see her during the week. She enjoyed attending the gym and fitness classes twice a week, and visiting cafes for coffee and cake. This also helped her mum (who is a full-time carer) to be able to have time for her own wellbeing.

When all this turned upside-down my friend was very upset. She loves hugging people and was not able to do that. She missed her carers and her friends and was anxious about the virus, as was her mum. Twice a week my sister and I would do online fitness classes with her. She is super fit, so it was hard keeping up! But it made me realise how technology really did help people during the lockdowns. She looked forward to our online chats and classes and it helped her through the week. 

Now we are able to enjoy a more normal life, she is very happy and is back in the cafes and the gym.

I am proud that as an organisation all of our colleagues adapted quickly and it did not take us long before we were working with our involved tenants to try and get them online. However, during learning disability week it is great to talk about the issues thta that many people still face after Covid restrictions lifted, like still having to isolate or dealing with poor mental health and anxiety.  

Talking to our tenants

During Leaning Disability Week, I have spoken to some of our tenants to see how they are finding life after lockdown. Paul told me that participating in online meetings “has been a very new and interesting experience. First by getting to know the ‘Zoom’ app and then to meet other people in the group while maintaining our social distance at the time.’’  However, it is great to hear that Paul is now enjoying reconnecting with friends and he told me he is now enjoying going to social events again and visiting the cinema and the pub.

Another of our tenants, David, told me that the process of "reconnecting" with friends had begun before the lockdown had officially ended. He had been in a support bubble which had been invaluable during the months of lockdown and he had several FaceTime chats with friends and family, too. 

He said: ‘’In a way, having online chats helped and these will continue (where needed) as we move on post-Covid. I talked about reconnecting with friends before lockdown had ended and there was some inevitable difficulty in returning to outdoor life as some pubs and places I had known before Covid had shut down for good, never to return - maybe because they were already in peril before Covid was even known about.”

“It was a pity that some events had to wait until 2022 to resume when (with hindsight) they could have started again in the summer of 2021. I promised myself during lockdown that when everything re-opened, I'd come back a better person than what I was before, so much so that everyone around me would see the difference.  It had irritated me when people said how great things were before lockdown when in reality that was far from the case.”

Another one of our tenants, Joy, told me that she is really enjoying going to a new Ladies’ Friendship group. She says: “I have felt really happy there, meeting people again - socialising chatting and having a good laugh. It is much better than staying in.”

Glen says he enjoys gardening.  “I have really enjoyed getting outside. It has also been super to go into other flats and meet friends. I hated lockdown I felt unhappy.”

Neil enjoys going out for walks and having a coffee. “I really missed this as I was not able to meet friends. I have been doing a geography community course since lockdown and I’m going to go back to a drama course that I really liked before Covid.”

During Learning Disability Week we can appreciate the importance of our friends, family and social connections in keeping us well. For our RWP (Reside With Progress) tenants it has been such a challenging time, but it’s great to see things opening up again.