Mencap arts DVD re-released due to popular demand

Friday 30 September 2011

Mencap has re-released its In the Moment DVD, which shows how to involve people with profound and multiple learning disabilities in the arts.

Demand for a DVD, showing how to involve people with profound and multiple learning disabilities in the arts, has prompted Mencap to print more copies.

The film, In the Moment, looks at ways that the arts can be made more accessible to people with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD).  It features the works of Oily Cart, Project Artworks, Soundabout and Open Storytellers – four arts companies currently working with people with PMLD.

The DVD demonstrates how people who have complex disabilities can develop their ability to communicate and interact with the world around them through music and sound.  It also shows how companies can create theatre for young people with complex disabilities by transforming everyday environments into colourful, tactile 'wonderlands'.

Gus Garside, Mencap’s national arts development manager, said:

The DVD has proved really successful with a variety of groups and is still in great demand. The arts are an expression of who we are, and they can only flourish through introducing the unique voices and experiences of people with profound and multiple learning disabilities. I hope it will inspire anyone who works with people with profound and multiple learning disabilities to become more creative in their work.

For more information, and to purchase a copy of the DVD and booklet (priced £18, including postage and packaging), call 0207 696 5531 or email learning.exchange@mencap.org.uk

Ends

For more information, please call Eleanor Bradstreet on 020 7696 6937 or email eleanor.bradstreet@mencap.org.uk

Notes to editors

• About Mencap

There are 1.5 million people with a learning disability in the UK. Mencap works to support people with a learning disability and their families and carers by fighting to change laws and improve services and access to education, employment and leisure facilities. Mencap supports thousands of people with a learning disability to live their lives the way they want.

We are also one of the largest providers of services, information and advice for people with a learning disability across England, Northern Ireland and Wales.  People with a learning disability and their carers can find out more about our services by calling Mencap Direct on 0300 333 111 or by visiting the Mencap website's pages for family and carers.

• About learning disability

A learning disability is caused by the way the brain develops before, during or shortly after birth. It is always lifelong and affects someone's intellectual and social development. It used to be called mental handicap but this term is outdated and offensive. Learning disability is NOT a mental illness.

The term learning difficulty is often incorrectly used interchangeably with learning disability.