Grace is one of the stars of our LDAN Makaton video. Here she is to tell us all about her many talents and hobbies.
Celebrating 'Dance with Siobhan Marshall'
We love hearing about all the groups that our members are involved in across Scotland, we recently heard about a new dance group for young adults with additional needs run by Siobhan Marshall in Perth which several of our members are part of.
Siohban tells us;
“I first met this amazing group 5 years ago at a class I used to teach at Perth Theatre called Let’s Dance. I absolutely loved working with them and I recognised a huge potential in them.
Just last year I had the idea of doing a summer week and monthly weekend workshops. The weekend workshops run 10-3 Saturday and Sunday once every 2 months with the hope of building this up to even more.
I found the weekend workshops work really well and the social aspect means a lot to the group as well as the dance training. I am hoping to grow the group, the classes, the teachers and the training.
Whilst we have done small group performances our biggest performance was in January to 150 people on a stage in Perth. We have also just been invited to perform at the Creative Day of Dance performing a piece on the Concert Hall stage.
I just know that this group and project is going to go far.”
Well done everyone, we wish you all the success in your future shows and we know you will achieve great things! If you would like to find out more about the group please email Siobhan Marshall at siobhan_marshall_@hotmail.com.
Celebrating Laura Logan and the Scottish Swim Team at World Down's Syndrome Swimming Championships
A massive WDSD birthday shout out to Laura Logan who turns 30 today! Laura is one of the Scottish Swim team at the World Down's Syndrome Swimming Championships in Turkey.
There are four swimmers from Scotland who travelled out to Turkey along with their coaches and support team for the World Down's Syndrome Swimming Championships which start today!
Congratulations to all of you for all your hard work to get there and we wish you the best of luck throughout the event!
Marie's 21 in 21 Challenge
Last year Marie signed 21 songs in 21 days leading up to World Down's Syndrome Day and raised £800.
This year she decided to take on another 21 in 21 challenge and decided to teach 21 people Makaton songs in 21 days.
Supporter Fiona Taylor baked Down's syndrome awareness themed cupcakes and sold them to her friends, family and colleagues in celebration of World Down's Syndome Day.
She has raised £250! The cakes look delicious! Thank you for supporting us Fiona!
Gorbals Health Centre Bake Sale
The staff at Gorbals Health Centre, which runs a monthly toddler group for children with Down's Syndrome, held a bake sale for World Down's Syndrome Day!
They have raised over £200! Thank you everyone for supporting Down's Syndrome Scotland.
Cameron's 21 Loaves in 21 days!
A massive well done and thank you to Cameron who has been doing a 21 in 21 challenge in the lead-up to World Down's Syndrome Day! He has been making 21 loaves in 21 days!
"He has been doing fantastic at following the recipe, weighing the ingredients and of course paying attention to good hygiene. He’s given the bread to people who are special to him at school during the week and family/friends at weekends. He chooses who he gives the bread to each day … but he keeps adding names to his list so we might end up doing more than 21!" says Mum Tracy, "full disclosure we do have a breadmaker but this is still a big challenge for Cameron! He’s done amazing to keep it up every day so far! We’re so proud of him!"
Well done Cameron and keep up the good work!
Cameron tells us about Going to College
Here’s one of our members Cameron talking about his transition from school to college, including how he prepared for going to college and his favourite things about college.
Before Christmas Cameron and his classmates created Christmas bottles which they sold and donated the profits to Down’s Syndrome Scotland as part of their enterprise unit in Lifeskills.
Well done Cameron and thank you for sharing this with us!
Celebrating Magnus Turpie and Ester Strachen
This week musicians Ester and Magnus are doing a tour of Skye for Down’s Syndrome Awareness Week.
The tour has been curated by Ester and her sister Iseabail who live on the island and host regular Kitchen Ceilidhs which they post on their Facebook page which you can view here. They will also be joined by Dominic Blaikie.
To celebrate World Down's Syndrome Day they wanted to do something extra special and will be performing at three venues around the island, demonstrating what is possible when you break through the age-old barriers of low expectations and challenge disability stereotypes.
LDAN in Focus for Down's Syndrome Awareness Week
The proposed Learning Disabilities, Autism and Neurodivergence (LDAN) Bill covers lots of areas where change is needed, this week for Down’s Syndrome Awareness Week we are going to focus on the four key areas that people with Down’s syndrome have told us could make a huge difference their lives – these are the four big dreams we talk about:
Health and wellbeing
Employment
Transitions – from school into adulthood
Living well in the community
The LDAN consultation offers up proposals in all these areas, which we will be highlighting throughout the week. So keep your eyes peeled for updates and we encourage you, if you haven’t already, to look at the LDAN consultation and consider putting in a response. This is our chance to make great things happen for people with Down’s syndrome living in Scotland.
Health and Wellbeing
We already know that people with learning disabilities experience poorer health outcomes than the general population. People with Down’s syndrome have some of the poorest health of any group in Scotland and die on average 28 years earlier than the rest of the population. Here are the LDAN’s proposals on how this could be addressed.
Employment
It is estimated that the employment rate for people with learning disabilities is as low as 7%. People with Down’s syndrome are not routinely part of Scotland’s workforce. The LDAN Bill has the opportunity to change that.
Living Well in the Community
We know that appropriate housing allows people with learning disabilities to live safe and independent lives. Unfortunately, many people with a learning disability find it difficult to find suitable housing. Here are the proposals laid out by the LDAN consultation on how this could be improved.
You can find out more about the LDAN consultation and how to submit your response at our website here.
Health and wellbeing
