Yellow Submarine | learning disability

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

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.

Accident Form

Incident Form

Handover Form

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.

Volunteer Resources