News

Community Integrated Care has won a prestigious award, and a note from Sir David Attenborough, for its “Save Our Wild Isles” initiative engaging thousands of people who access social care, through accessible resources inspired by the acclaimed ‘Wild Isles’ documentary series. The Save Our Wild Isles initiative is a collaboration with RSPB, National Trust and WWF and won the Care Innovator Award at the Great British Care Awards.

The National Autistic Society has produced the ‘Know Yourself’ series of videos, pdfs and worksheets, to support autistic teenagers in understanding what being autistic means to them. The resources have been co-produced with autistic young people and feature many talking about their own experiences and what has helped them.

Join MacIntyre's Dementia Special Interest Group for a morning of learning and inspiration, where the focus will be communication when supporting someone with dementia.

KIDS has launched a brand-new ‘SEND in education’ advice and guidance section on its website containing helpful guides, practical advice and valuable resources to support children throughout their educational journey.

The Deafblind UK Centre for Education and Research has opened at Birmingham City University. The new Centre has been hailed as “life-changing” and a “game changer” in the fight to address the “frustrating and overwhelming isolation” felt by many deafblind people.

The Leaders Awards are now in their sixth year. They celebrate people with learning disabilities and autistic people who are taking a lead in their lives; from advocates to actors, from rock climbers to photographers, and aim to accelerate social change.

Report from National Autistic Society on the reality of autistic people’s struggle for support across health and social care, education, employment and mental health.

Nominations are open for the Learning Disability and Autism Leaders’ Awards 2025, an annual event organised by Dimensions and Supported Loving, and will celebrate people with learning disabilities and autistic people who are leading the way and making the world better for themselves and others.

RNIB conference at Glasgow science Centre all about bringing people together to share ideas on the convergence of sustainability, innovation, and emerging technologies in the context of inclusive design.

This year’s report, based on insight shared by VODG members and other organisations across the adult social care sector, highlights the challenges, resilience and dedication within the social care sector. It calls for a multi-year funding settlement and a fully funded roadmap towards workforce parity between care and the NHS.

National Star and Together Trust’s research highlights barriers young people with disabilities face in transitioning to adulthood.

SignHealth is holding a webinar on 16 January at 7pm on why deaf people are still sick of poor access to healthcare, the latest updates about the Accessible Information Standard and action needed. The event will be on zoom with BSL, English and captions.

Dimensions has produced an easy read guide to the assisted dying bill, which the Government voted in favour of.

The report, which finds one in three disability charities will have to hand back contracts due to national insurance contributions unless the government provides funding to cover these costs, was on the front page of The Sunday Express and includes a quote from Health Minister Karin Smyth saying the government ‘understood the pressures’ and is ‘willing and keen to talk’ as allocations are set.

Over 100 organisations, including VODG and many of our members, signed a joint statement on ‘strengthening adult social care and support for all of us’ – published by the LGA ahead of the local government settlement.

SignHealth is inviting d/Deaf people aged 18 to 25 to take part in small group online sessions to share their experiences of the Covid pandemic with the UK Covid-19 Inquiry.

Our Life Stories is a first of its kind peer research project from United Response, intended to document the stories of the real people at the heart of the complex disability history of the last decades.

Two VODG members have won Inspiring Communicator Awards, SeeAbility for its accessible communications and Mencap for its “Do You See Me?” campaign.

Eyeware from RNIB is a free app using immersive technology that allows sighted people the chance to experience simulations of different sight loss conditions in real-time.