Barod - Ready to Work

Changing Places David works for Barod and is a member of Powys People First. He has been a passionate campaigner for Changing Places a project aimed at getting everyone access to bathrooms and the freedom and independence that goes with it. you can find out more here: www.changing-places.org/  powyspeoplefirst.org/

On Tuesday, we ran a game at the Swansea Behaviour Change Festival. We called it ' Swansea’s Got Jargon*-Busters'. *Jargon: a word or phrase not used in everyday life, or that is being used with a different, special meaning. It often goes with waffling and speaking too fast. We wanted to see if, when faced with a panel of three people with learning difficulties, people could talk for 2 minutes about their job or what they'd learned at the Festival without using jargon. If someone on the panel couldn't understand them easily, they would buzz. Three buzzes and you're out. If you are still going at 2 minutes, you got a rosette saying 'I'm a Jargon Buster'.  Summary People who took part, the panel and the observers were surprised and pleased that people succeeded. Face to face communication is easier than communicating in writing. Jargon is comfortable. You need to know your subject to be able to explain it without jargon. If you find ...

I’m sat in Café Nero in Fforestfach. I’m drinking coffee and blogging. I’m watching people sat alone, reading papers, staring into the distance, doing paperwork. I can see the couples sat in silence, and the couples talking. I can see the women in the window seats glued to their smart phones. Usually, but not today, I watch a group of mothers laughing together with babies in prams, or a group of older women Earlier today I was part of a talking couple, catching up with my husband. And then we got talking about ‘coffee shop conversations’. That’s something I do in coffee shops as part of Barod, but not today. And it’s something I’m researching for a PhD. Imagine, the group of mothers get talking about the local maternity service. A fly on the wall would have a field day learning by listening to them. The fly would hear all sorts of things that weren’t said at the formal consultation on the future of that service. I did listen in to one of those conversations a few years a...

Drill Wales Roadshows- Alan Armstrong (Barod Worker) We went to Cardiff to Disability Wales meeting. The point of the meeting was to do with research that people could put in the bids to get money for research. How did I find the day? I found it interesting but very long day. Some of the information they gave is okay but could have been done better it had a lot of jargon. It was very easy to talk to people in groups. Anne’s talk about co working research was very interesting. What next? I think it would be good to have a day to get skills to put in a bid. It would be good if there is a day like this. Barod could put in a bid for a research work shop so that we could have a day with people we work with and can learn how to coproduce and so that people can learn to how to put in for bids of research. I think that we need to think about what we want to research before trying to do research work. I learnt this when I went in front of Mars research group. ...

One worker-director’s personal journey I value myself as an ordinary person, as a human being, and went down the route of looking for employment. I was told by Job Centre Plus that I had to seek advice from a disability employment advisor (DEA). I attended the appointment where the DEA spent the appointment on explaining how I’d never find employment. It made me feel unworthy and felt I was the problem, where the problem was they couldn’t find the appropriate employment for me because it wasn’t out there. So the message I’m giving is it wasn’t my problem, it was theirs. So, he sent me to supported employment agencies that he thought would suit me, and the various work placements and training came into this. I decided to knock that on the head because it made me feel ‘special’ in the shut out and stared at way. And none of it led to employment. I’ve always remembered the Wetherspoon’s story, and that story kept me going. Wetherspoon’s was started by someone who was ...

Coproduction is a buzz word. It gets used a lot. And it gets used to describe a lot of things. We always start by thinking about power and control. I guess that's because we are used to not having either, despite being told we have been given them. So, for us, coproduction is not a new type of engagement or involvement. Engagement and involvement always rely on someone else saying you can get involved. Usually the "someone else" is your service provider, local authority or government. As long as someone has the power to choose to involve you, they can choose to stop involving you as well. Same goes for empowerment, engagement and all these other buzz words for shifting how things work between the powerful and less powerful. The hard reality is that the "someone else" really does hold the power and control. They have the money, the influence, the professional training, sometimes even the democratic right if they were elected. As long as "someone else...

Barod at the All Wales People First Conference All Wales People First held their annual conference in Cardiff this week. Never Mind the Politics What about Advocacy was a chance for the members to write their manifesto to campaign at the Welsh Assembly elections in 2016. People First conferences are always really exciting and energy filled events. We've been involved in many over the years as participants, organisers and speakers. This years event was no exception. it was full of experienced and skilled self advocates from across Wales. It's a chance for sharing ideas and recharging campaigning batteries, especially important with the tough times groups are facing. Barod was asked to run two discussion groups talking about what it's like to be a young person with a learning disability in Wales in 2016. Alan and Simon made a short film to talk about setting up and running the groups.