Recent research carried out by Marion Janner from The Learning Disability Media Project revealed that people with learning disabilities watch more TV than other people. Based on these findings and our own in-house client evaluations, we feel that it is important that our service users are helped to develop a stronger understanding of this medium as well as helping them to exploit various other media platforms available to them.

We decided to put together a beginners’ guide to Media Studies for young adults with learning disabilities. We named the project Media & Me and launched the pilot project in December 2007, run by two members of staff. The 12 week programme has been designed by Community Link Up’s Marketing Officer; Archie Shah who was inspired by Marion’s work. Archie specifically devised the project for young adults with Learning Disabilities who have no background in media studies. She kept all the language and course material simple and involved practical hands on sessions as well as a number of educational visits to places within London.

What's it all about?

The project offers our clients a vital understanding of the media as well giving them the opportunity to express their own opinions, ideas, gain new skills and encourage creativity. The project also provides an understanding of the subtleties and risks of this medium. 

The media is such a big part of our lives and a lot of information we get is from the media i.e. the news. Through our specialised training we have helped our clients to become media literate and communicate more effectively in ways which have significantly improved their ability to live independent lives.

The Future

We feel that the pilot project has been a great success. The families and carers have all expressed how beneficial the training programme has been, highlighting the educational benefits as well as providing a real boost to their child’s personal development.  Through the use of media technologies they have found new ways to express themselves and showcase their talents.

Due to the pilot project's huge success we have decided to run the project again with a new group of students and plan to run a third session in September 2008.  If this project sounds interesting to you and you are aged between 16 - 25 years old, then get in touch!

A big thank you

We would like to take this opportunity to thank The North West London Community Foundation for sponsoring our pilot project with a generous donation of £6,036!