The UK government has backed a project that uses picture books to help people with learning disabilities into work.
Damian Green, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, launched the two-year Beyond Words project. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is backing the social enterprise with £280,000 of investment.
Good to talk: the launch of the Beyond Words project
The project includes four new picture books that promote group discussions on finding and keeping a job. Beyond Words already produced books, services and training for people who find pictures easier to understand than words.
The DWP said the project aims to builds on the success of book groups for people with learning disabilities and autism. It added that it would be the start of a new focus on four stages of employment. These were leaving school or college, exploring work, finding a job and staying in work.
Books discussed at local library groups
Beyond Words books are discussed in book club groups that have been established in many local libraries. The Learning Centre at the City Lit adult education college in London’s Covent Garden will be among the first to use the new resources. It will be starting two new book clubs in 2017.
At a launch event at City Lit, Damian Green met people who will benefit from the project. He said: “A disability should not dictate the path a person is able to take in life. What should count is a person’s talent and their determination to succeed.
“Beyond Words book clubs help people with a learning disability to break down the barriers they face. It’s a brilliant project that offers people with learning disabilities the support they need. I look forward to working with them.”
Only 7 per cent have a paid job
Workplaces exclude more people with a learning disability from the workplace than any other group of disabled people. More than 65 per cent of people with a learning disability and autism would like a paid job. However, only 7 per cent have one – and in many cases this is part-time work.
Employment advisers will visit the Beyond Words book clubs to use the new books and help members explore volunteering and work. People with learning disabilities will be trained as a national network of peer supporters to work with the clubs.
Special schools and SEN units will also be offered the opportunity to use this model of communication and discussion. The hope is that it would help them to support their students as they move on to adult life, and to achieve their aspirations.
Stories that ‘resonate with reality’
Baroness Hollins, founder and chair of Beyond Words, also spoke at the launch event. She said: “The majority of disabled people want to work and hope that they can find work that interests them and recognises their skills. Beyond Words co-creates stories without words with people with learning disabilities that resonate with the reality of their own lives.
“They are stories that help people to understand the ways of the world, to share their own stories and aspirations and to tackle the barriers that prevent them from participating fully in community life.”
Groups of learning disability service providers, employment services and experts with learning disabilities will form an integral part of the project. They will carry out this role through advisory groups on each book and in training.
Gary Butler, a self-advocate and trainer with Beyond Words and St George’s, University of London, said: “Working makes me feel good, it gives me independence and helps pay the bills. These new books will be good to help other people achieve what I have.”
Published: 14 December 2016
