Social History of Learning Disability Conference by Robin

On Thursday we set off in the car from Frome to Milton Keynes on the motorway till we got to the Open University at Milton Keynes.

We had a nice dinner and went to our workshop about using story to help people communicate – one about story boxes and another about using computer games to tell stories. I thought the group did well, it was very interesting. After a coffee break we listened to a talk about people with learning disabilities from Thailand and Ethiopia and how they share their personal stories and also how it felt for people with L.D to be listened to!

In the evening we went to a spicy restaurant and the organisers and people who had run workshops and presentations talked about how the conference went.

On the second day, Robin and Nicola ran a workshop about storytelling and communication skills, and we told a story about Knights and Days in the Kitchen.

We also listened to some presentations, one about a man who talked about the history of people with L.D in Britain, one about long stay institutions in Cardiff and another one about a man with L.D who moved from Bath to Ireland to work on drawing pictures.

I really enjoyed being a part of this conference and it helped it me to understand how to work with advocates and researchers on personal disability stories.