Ambassadors talk about early club nights

Campaign Ambassadors Update

This week we talked about a new trend we’ve started to see, ‘club nights’ for people with learning disabilities that start at 5pm.

“It’s not a nightclub. A nightclub is a nighttime thing”

The rise of 5pm club nights

We watched the video from the BBC’s website about a ‘club night’ that has started up which starts at 5pm.

We talked about what was good about events like this and what worried us.

Watch the video story here

What we liked about the video story

It looked like it was a safe place where people could meet their friends.

This means you can see your friends, make new friends and have a dance.

What we didn’t like about the video

We didn’t think it was really ‘inclusion’ as it didn’t look like it was open to the general public.

We thought it looked more like people with learning disabilities were being ‘contained’.

In the video they said people with learning disabilities didn’t “feel safe” in regular night clubs. We thought this was really bad.

The answer is not to segregate people though.

This is something the council and the police should be looking into.

Paul said he saw another event happening near him that was from 5pm to 7pm.

He’s also heard about an event for people with learning disabilities which doesn’t have accessible toilets.

These are the things that we think need to change

It’s nice to be able to do things like this but not if it’s the only thing you can do like this. Why can’t people stay out late?

People with learning disabilities should feel safe to go out late at night.

They should also be supported to go out late at night.

It would be better if it started later as 5pm is an early time to start dancing, especially if you want to stay up late.

You should be able to go home when you want to.

It needs to be clear that people have choice about going to regular club nights too and deciding what time to go to bed.

These are our quotes from the meeting

“We get told that support workers need to get home early in case there is a medical emergency”

“I have to leave events by 9pm as I’m told to be home by 10pm. This is a curfew”

“Let people have a proper night out”

“This is happening a lot and people are getting excluded”

“8.30pm is not a time to go home. And what we’re asking for is not all the time”

“I wonder if they get a late night doner kebab or pizza on the way home?”

“It feels like they’re patting people on the head and treating them like children”

Download the full minutes of the meeting here

What do you think?

We’d love to know what you think about this issue. Please tell us in the comments below.

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