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April Newsletter
Here is our latest newsletter dated April 2013. There are three main articles in this edition.
The first article looks at concessions from Dundee City Council following legal action over plans to close a Day Centre for people with learning disabilities. This will be of interest to many people in different parts of Scotland who face similar challenges.
Our second article introduces worrying new evidence released by the DWP on what will happen after the closure of the Independent Living Fund. You can read the full documents here by clicking on the following links
The third article looks at a new project for gay and lesbians who have a learning disability.
All the articles are available on our website if you have problems reading this email. All articles on our website can be read aloud by simply highlighting the text and clicking the speaker icon. There is also an audio version of this newsletter on our website. If you would like a copy emailed to you or a version on a disc please let me know.
Lynda La Pante - Prime Suspect!
Last week the writer Lynda La Plante was interviewed on Radio 4's Today programme on Friday 22nd March. The interview is at 2 hrs 27 minutes. You can skip to that point by moving the slider bar.
She was being interviewed about her recent award of an honorary fellowship by the Foresnsic Science Society. However, suddenly it came about that Lynda La Plante was explaining to the interviewer that she had been incorrectly quoted as calling the BBC "retards".
She said that she hadn't said that but she went on to explain that she doesn't send in her scripts because she knows that there will be a "retard" on the other end reading them.
NHS failing people with learning disabilities
People with learning disabilities are dying on average 16 years earlier than they should, because the NHS does not properly investigate and treat their physical complaints, an inquiry has found.
A confidential inquiry into deaths in the south-west, carried out by Bristol University academics and funded by the Department of Health, has revealed stark inequalities and recommends the creation of a review body to investigate and monitor learning disability deaths across the UK.
The charity Mencap estimates from the review findings that more than 1,200 children and adults die every year because they are not getting proper NHS care. More than a third (37%) are not getting the healthcare they should.
Hundreds attend protest meeting
Hundreds of service users and family carers attended a meeting in the Radisson Blu to protest against Glasgow council's 
plans to close 3 day centres.
Karen McSherry, a day centre user made a key speech in which she talked about her time at her centre and how much she enjoyed. She finished by saying that it was her choice to go to a day centre, why couldn't she do that.
There was a real sense of engagement with many concerns being voiced especially over the plans to use a smaller number of centre for the support of mainly people with more complex needs. Many others expressed their outrage at the kind of decisions that were being made in the "personalisation" of their care.
Despite council plans to make a final decision the meeting voted unanimously to continue the fight, to elect delegates to represent those present and to proceed with joint action to force a change of heart from the council.
A thousand more call for Care Inspectorate Investigation
The practice and performance of the City Of Glasgow Social Work still continue to cause concern to service users, families and ordinary citizens.
Little has happened since December to alleviate such concerns and many people have continued to reiterate their concerns over the actions of the council and are organising a meeting this Sunday to discuss these in detail.
An online petition has been running since December calling on the Care Inspectorate to come back to reinvestigate what is happening in Glasgow. Recently family carers have been out collecting signature on petitions asking for the same thing. A further 973 people have signed and more are being collected this week in the run up to the meeting.
This is a matter that is worthy of more investigation and oversight.