Here is the latest Changing Our Lives leaflet which gives an overview of the work that we do.

On the 23rd April, myself and Siraaj went to Dudley Council house to meet with Daniel and Darren to discuss whether they wanted to become MP's for Dudley. We discussed how the Parliaments works and that the MP's (who were people with a Learning Disability) would hold the power over the professionals and that they would be given deadlines to complete a task set by the MP's and that every Parliament meeting is filmed to show when or if a professional hasn't complete a task and they say they weren't ask to. But this film shows footage saying that they would so they can't go back on their word!

We then explain that in between the big Parliament, there are MP meeting to which the MP's are kept inform with the progress of work done by the professionals. Afterwards, we explained that there would be Select Committees led by MP's who have chosen to specialise in a certain area.

So please watch this space!

On the 10th May, I went to talk to some students from the Halesowen Campus (part of Stourbridge College) about becoming a MP in the new Dudley's People Parliament. I went into detail about what the current Sandwell and Wolverhampton Peoples Parliaments are like, what the outcomes for the Parliament are, what the White Paper was that they would put together around employment.

I then talked about the leadership training that Siraaj Nadat and I will deliver as leads of the project to prepare them for Parliament. I talked about my experience as a paid leader and what it has helped me to achieve throughout my time with Changing Our Lives.
Then in the afternoon, I went to the Council House in Dudley to talk to CEO of Dudley Council called John Polychronakis, we were joined by Andrea Pope-Smith, Director for Adults. I told John about the Parliament and all the hard work that Siraaj and I are doing to set up Dudley Peoples Parliament. We talked about how and what I did during Takeover day in November 2011 (in which I took over Jan Britton's job who is the CEO of Sandwell Council).
John agreed to support the work of Dudley People's Parliament by attending the Parliament meetings, extend our network of partners, meet with MP's and support their training through shadowing opportunities to develop their knowledge about how the council works and volunteer for 'Take Over Day' on 23rd November this year with one of our young Dudley MP's!
http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/takeover_day

To find out more of the development of this Dudley's People's Parliament...please watch this space!!

On the 24th April, Me and Siraaj met with Ian Staples, a Commissioner from Walsall and Paul Davies who is the Executive Director of Adult Services in Walsall. At the start of the meeting, me and Siraaj talked about this new project and we explained that we were setting up a People's Parliament in Walsall for adults with a learning disability and that we were looking for 5 potential MPs. We then discussed what we have already been doing prior to this meeting, who we have been to see or meet and who we are going to be seeing. Siraaj said that the Parliament meeting is filmed to show what people have said they will do.
We then explained that in between the big Parliaments, there are MP meetings where the MPs do lots of work. Afterwards, we explained that are Select Committees led by MPs leading the work.
If you would any more info on the development of this Parliament......Please watch this space!

On Wednesday 18th April, Siraaj and I firstly met Judy Allcock who has found out about the Parliament and was interested in being an MP. When we arrived, we told Judy a bit about the work Changing Our Lives does and then we told her about what the actual Parliament itself was about. We said the Parliament was like the Parliament in Westminster in London. The only difference itself was that the MPs will be adults with a learning disability and that the Parliament would be on employment.

We told Judy about that were 3 outcomes that we wanted to achieve which were :

• Accessible recruitment process when applying for jobs in the Council
• To get 5 people into paid employment full time for 16 hours or more
• Job Carving

We then told Judy our experience with Changing Our Lives and why we got involved. I said that I started 2 years ago with my work placement and how I was really quiet and wouldn't talk to anyone but then I talked about Takeover Day and Whole of Life. Siraaj talked about his national work and how he sits on the national health advisory board.

Then after we were done meeting Judy, we went to do 2 sessions at Dudley College and we gave a presentation with a bit a of background information on Changing Our Lives, People's Parliament and again the 3 outcomes. At the end of the sessions, we had 6 people interested being MPs.

So watch this space!!!

On the 2^nd April, Siraaj and I met with Chris Sims (who works for the Mencap Employment Service based in Wolverhampton but works in Wolverhampton and Walsall.) Chris Sims role in the Employment Service is to help people with a disability to find a job.

Welcome to the first entry in G’s fantastic new blog!!!

I’m Gina Patel, I work for Changing Our Lives and this is my first ever entry!

I got involved with Changing Our Lives originally in July 2010 when I approached them to do my work experience placement while I was in year 10 at School and have never left!

Changing Our Lives has been supporting people on the Autistic Spectrum to use photography as a medium to express themselves, get out in to their communities and photograph the sights they see.

Changing Our Lives supported people to learn how to use point and shoot and professional SLR cameras and to find interesting things in their homes, gardens and communities to photograph.

Displayed here are a range of images showing their progression in to photography.

Jess and Andy working on the Safe Place training presentations for Wolverhampton.

They will be visiting day services over the next few weeks to tell everyone about the scheme before the official launch on 09th March 2012.

The Young Women and Theatre project gathered the views of over 140 young women both with learning disabilities, physical disabilities and young women with no disability. We wanted to find out what young women were thinking today and what they really want. The young women made a film and held a launch on 24th September. They told us that whether they have a disability or not, they all have hopes and dreams to be successful and lead independent lives.