“My chat shows help give people with learning disabilities a voice”
“My chat shows help give people with learning disabilities a voice”
Stay Up Late’s Jason O’Neill hosts Ambassadors’ Chat Show
During lockdown we’ve obviously had to switch our focus from physical meet-ups to virtual meet-ups. In terms of campaigning, we’ve been bringing our Stay Up Late Ambassadors together for regular Zoom meetings. Our Ambassadors are people with a learning disability who speak up for the charity and assist with our campaigning work.
A couple of weeks ago we heard from our old friend Scott Watkin from Seeability and Learning Disability England. He gave a talk about the experiences of people with learning disabilities in lockdown. Scott emphasised how we need to all keep talking to each other and stressed that even when lockdown ends we’ll probably have to get used to “a new kind of normal” rather than everything going back exactly the way it was before.
This week we handed the whole meeting over to Jason for one of his famous Jaydog’s Chat Shows.
A Stay Up Late Ambassador himself and also part of our quality checking team, Jason interviewed two other Ambassadors – Sophie Hinksman from Wales and Michael McEwan from Stay Up Late Scotland. Jason asked each of them how they got involved in Stay Up Late, what they thought of our #NoBedtimes campaign and what campaigning for people with learning disabilities may look like after lockdown. You can watch the video of the chat show here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsp99rJqjxo&t=2s
Jason says: “It was really good talking to Michael and Sophie and for them to express how being an Ambassador has made a difference both for themselves and their communities.”
“I really enjoy doing the chat shows. Talking to other people is something I really enjoy anyway and my chat shows help give people with learning disabilities a voice.”
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