INTRODUCTIONS

Our Plan for the day

We will talk to each other about what the Platform does and how working together as a Network can make change happen.

We will learn about talking about our rights to Government and Organisations.

We will hear from our guest speaker Fiona about their work as an advocacy group

We will learn about becoming a member of the Platform if you want to.

We will have time to talk – Have a Cup of Tea

And Meet new people

Brian Hayes will now talk about the Platform and our work.

The Platform works for the rights of people with intellectual disabilities to make sure that we are involved in making decisions about our lives, and the issues affecting our lives.

We talk to people in government about our rights, we ask them to listen, and to
hear what we need to make our lives better and for our supporters.

Here is a video about our work.

We are very proud of starting the National Platform in 2011.

We started it because we wanted people to listen to what we had to say about our rights.

We spoke to organisations about the Platform and we got funding from Atlantic Philanthropies to set up the Platform and keep going.

We are now contacted by every organisation and government department that needs information and help learning about the rights of people with intellectual disabilities.

This year we got funding from Rethink Ireland and the government to meet with other people and groups around Ireland to talk about setting up local groups and networks to support people to talk about their rights.

This is our 4th network meeting.

We already had meetings in Cork, Waterford and Athlone.

A network is when people or groups join together because they care about the same issues.

Instead of one group or person speaking up there are lots of groups or people speaking up about the same issue.

Networks are important because:

We can work together to plan projects and campaigns to make change happen.

The more people that join together the louder our voice is.

The more people who speak up the better, because there is strength in numbers.

We have support in getting issues heard about things that are important to us.

It can lead to good opportunities, funding, and new projects.

We can learn from each other and share our information, experiences and ideas.

We are going to hear from Fiona and Mairead about the work of St. Joseph’s Foundation Self Advocacy Group .