"I have worked as an Inclusion Consultant at Mencap for 8 years. Inclusion consultants do important work at Mencap. We have lived
experience
Experience is when you have learned or tried something before.
of
learning disability
A learning disability is to do with the way someone's brain works. It makes it harder for someone to learn, understand or do things.
and help other colleagues to see things from our point of view. We also help with things like training new people when they start working at Mencap." - Jonathan
"I have done lots of work at Mencap that I’m very proud of. The thing that I am most proud of is being part of a project team to find a new learning system for Mencap.
I helped to
research
Research is a way of finding out information which could come from books, or asking people what they think.
different companies that provide learning systems. I joined calls to talk to people at the companies to help them understand what was important to Mencap and what we needed.
I helped to choose the right system for Mencap. I watched demonstrations of the different systems and gave each one a score.
When we chose a system, I tested it out to make sure that it worked well and was easy to use.
I helped to make sure that everyone at Mencap knew we were getting a new system and to get them excited about it. I filmed a video where I talked about the new system and what to expect."
"I wanted to be
involved
Involved is being included in something or taking part in something.
in this project because people with learning disabilities will use the system day to day. Helping people to learn is key to what we are about at Mencap.
Our old systems were out of date and confusing. I saw lots of other systems that were more
accessible
Accessible means something is easy for people to use or join in with. For example: Accessible writing means the writing is easy to read and understand.
for people with disabilities." - Jonathan
"We chose Kallidus Learn because it was easy to understand and simple to use. The people I met from Kallidus explained the system very well. I think it’s a great system for our colleagues to use and will be good for Mencap for a long time into the future.
I feel like we are going into the next adventure. We have lots of ambitions at Mencap and this system will help us to make sure we have the skills to achieve them.
I am very proud to have been involved in this project and it’s fantastic to see where I am now compared to where I was a year ago. It’s important to have people with learning disabilities involved in projects like this because we have lived experience that other people don’t have."
"I enjoyed being involved in this project from the start. It proves to me and to other people that I can do this kind of work. I would like to get involved in more projects in the future." - Jonathan.
By Mencap