Paul Burstow, a former minister for social care, was once charged with finding savings in care services. He completed his last two years, cut the Valuing People Now programme early, and returned to the back benches. He did, however, draft a Care and Support Bill and has subsequently used this experience to chair a joint Parliamentary Scrutiny…

Paul Richards is one of those individuals who make a difference and is as far from institutional as one can be. The author met up with him at the Learning Disability Today conference in London to talk more about his work and life. Paul coordinates the service user involvement across Southdown Housing Association, based in Sussex.

Jim Blair is the only consultant nurse working with people with learning disabilities in the country. His job helps make people better and saves money. This article shares a conversation with Jim Blair. In the conversation, Blair says he is unhappy Valuing People programme did not do as much as it could have done. Jim is worried all the changes,…

Athletes with learning disabilities have had a difficult time being included in the Paralympics. They have faced a lot of discrimination, including from other disabled athletes, and just when they were finally included (at the Sydney games in 2000), the Spanish Basketball team cheated by having players on their team who did not have learning…

There is a new National Family Carer Network putting the views across of family carers. They believe family carers have often been given a bad name. Family carers now have more places on the Learning Disability TaskForce, but will it do any better than before? New laws about who can make decisions will help, if they don't imply that parents are…