New Post from People First.

People with learning disabilities – COVID-19 Support and Action Group Wednesday 6th January 2021 1. Present Andrew Olcay Chris Joanne Gordon Jenny Darren Philipa Eve Kieran Peter Sarah Simone Kweku Kenneth 2. Introductions Andrew welcomed everyone to the meeting and then Jenny asked how we were all feeling. Everyone checked in and shared how they had coped over the holiday period. It had been tough for some people but generally people said they were doing as well as they could in the circumstances. There was a feeling of ‘Here we go again’ with the latest restrictions. For many people, they have been in lockdown since March 2020. 3. Action agreed at the last meeting  Send names to Andrew if interested in joining the Joint Voices workshops  Contact Svetlana about attending the group in the New Year.  Simone to draft a letter to the solicitor  Contact journalists - Saba Salman & Ian Bridmor To do – need to agree who is going to do this. 3. Topic: Priorities for vaccination Solicitor Elizabeth Cleaver from Bindmans London Elizabeth explained that she was a solicitor in public law working to ensure that people’s rights are upheld. She works with people who have mental health issues and disabled people. Eve, Olcay, Simone, Kweku, Kieran, Kenneth, Joanne, and Andrew will be attending. Svetlana will be attending the group Wednesday 27th January at 1pm. Simone drafted a letter and it was sent to the solicitor. 2 Bindmans are taking on case about the Covid-19 vaccination priorities and pushing for people with learning difficulties to get access to it. The Public Health England report presented figures on the impact of Covid-19 on people with learning difficulties during the first wave (April – June 2020). The findings told us that people with learning difficulties were 3-6 times more likely to die from Covid-19 and die younger. There were many reasons for this but overall it highlighted the health inequalities we face. The case is calling for people with learning difficulties to have the vaccination sooner. Some people already fit in to priority 3 and 6 these are people with Downs Syndrome and people who are ‘clinically vulnerable’ or have severe disabilities. The case is currently involves 3 people. A pre-action letter has been sent to the Government and now the solicitor is looking for funding to start the legal case. Question: What consultation happened to help decide the priorities? Elizabeth said that the recommendations for the Vaccination Priority List were made by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). The recommendations were accepted by the Government without any wider consultation. 4 Question: Are children and younger people with learning difficulties included in the priority list? Elizabeth explained that the vaccinations have only been tested on adults so are not approved for children. Eve offered to be a person represented by the case. Elizabeth went on to say that they were in the early stages of the process so would speak to the Barrister involved in the case about taking on a fourth person. One of the people has autism and another lives in institutional care and the other person lives in the community. There has also been interests from the BBC and has contacted Ruth Clegg who works with Nicky Fox. Chris asked if the language used by the case could reflect people with autism. Elizabeth said the language used reflects the Public Health England report but will look at this. We discussed whether people with a learning difficulty and/or autism should be seen as a category or be a priority within each existing priority levels? Some people are more seriously affected because of the circumstances. Question: What article of the UNCRPD is being used in this case? 5 Elizabeth said that Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights is being used. Article 14 of the Convention says that the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms set forth in the Convention must be secured without discrimination “on any ground such as” sex, race etc “or other status”. Elizabeth agreed to do the following: 1. Talk with the Barrister to see how People First can be involved 2. Link the group with Ruth Clegg 3. Check if a fourth person is needed and get back to us/Eve 4. Produce easy read updates about the case Andrew thanked Elizabeth for coming to talk to the group.  Contact journalists - Saba Salman & Ian Bridmor  Follow uo action agreed with Elizabeth 6. Action 6 5. Information exchange Christopher’s artwork from the session 8