It's hard to exaggerate the effect this experience has had on me. I really do look at the world differently now.
John- volunteer
What is a learning disability?
A learning disability is a reduced intellectual ability and difficulty with everyday activities – for example household tasks, socialising or managing money – which affects someone for their whole life.
People with a learning disability tend to take longer to learn and may need support to develop new skills, understand complex information and interact with other people.
Find out more – https://www.mencap.org.uk/definition
Communicating with people with a learning disability.
Working with someone with a learning disability may challenge your idea of what communication is, and how you make yourself understood.
Top 10 tips for communication
- Find a good place to communicate in – somewhere without distraction. f you are talking to a large group be aware that some people may find this difficult.
- Ask open questions; questions that don’t have a simple yes or no answer
- Check with the person that you understand what they are saying e.g. “the TV isn’t working? Is that right?”
- If the person wants to take you to show you something, go with them.
- Watch the person; they may tell you things by their body language and facial expressions.
- Learn from experience – you will need to be more observant and don’t feel awkward about asking parents or carers for their help.
- Try drawing – even if your drawing isn’t great, it might still be helpful
- Take you time, don’t rush communication
- Use gestures and facial expressions. If you’re asking if someone is happy or unhappy, make your facial expression unhappy to reinforce what you’re saying
- Be aware that some people find it easier to use real objects to communicate, but photos and pictures can really help too
Read more – https://www.mencap.org.uk/learning-disability-explained/communicating-people-learning-disability
What is safeguarding?
Safeguarding is about protecting children, young people and vulnerable adults from abuse or neglect. We are all responsible for the safety of children, young people and vulnerable adults. We must ensure that we are doing all we can to protect the most vulnerable members of our society.
Safeguarding guidelines
General safeguarding responsibilities, including the ‘Golden Rules’, can be viewed here
All staff & volunteers must agree to work within our guidelines and must sign a copy of our essential policies & guidelines document – download here
Safeguarding contacts
Yellow Submarine’s safeguarding contacts can be viewed here. Our safeguarding lead is Kate Sankey.
For up to date information on safeguarding at Yellow Submarine see: https://www.yellowsubmarine.org.uk/safeguarding/
Useful websites and resources
- Oxfordshire Safeguarding Children Board: http://www.oscb.org.uk/
– Reporting safeguarding concerns – useful contacts view here
– View the OSCB information sharing protocol here - Safe – Safer Activities For Everyone CIC. Visit their website – here
- CEOP – Keeping young people safe online and reporting concerns. Visit their website – here
- The Anti-Bullying Alliance Information Hub holds information and resources about reducing the bullying of children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Visit their website – here
- Online abuse and bullying prevention guide produced by gov.uk downloadable here
Useful Websites & Resources
HSE (Health & Safety Executive): Advice, guidance, news, templates, tools, legislation, publications from Great Britain’s independent regulator for work-related health, safety and illness. Visit their website here
Yellow Submarine has a duty of care to both our members and staff to report and share appropriately details of any accidents or incidents that occur. To ensure this is done we have a procedure in place which includes documenting what happened and sharing with the Yellow Submarine senior management team who will take the matter forward as necessary. Forms to document accidents and incidents can be found below.
For all our up to date Induction information, click here.
All new starters should be given a copy of the current induction booklet (download here) and all new staff and volunteers should be given a copy of our basic policy document (download here) to read and sign to ensure they are aware of key policies and their responsibilities. Please also read our Volunteer Handbook outlining your role at Yellow Submarine.
Induction training sessions take place every three months and all new starters are invited to attend ASAP. After attending please complete the induction quiz to confirm your understanding.
Yellow Submarine in your House
Today we are making trick shots! You could try and throw a ball into a pot, a tea bag into a mug, a piece of bread into a toaster, a bottle flip, whatever you like! If you have the patience to try and catch it on video, send it along to jack@yellowsubmarine.org.uk and we'll share them next Sunday!
Here are all my attempts, which were all definitely done first try and didn't take LOTS OF TIME AT ALL!
