“It was a good visit!” – ETR

Inclusion Europe president Jyrki Pinomaa  

went to a conference in Manchester. 

Manchester is a city in the United Kingdom. 

The conference was organised by Learning Disability England. 

This is an organisation for people  

with intellectual disabilities. 

Here’s what Jyrki said about the conference: 

“It is easy to talk with people  

who think the same things as me. 

It is also easy to understand each other. 

I went to the conference organised by 

Learning Disability England. 

This organisation wants to become a member  

of Inclusion Europe. 

So I decided to go there  

and find out more about their work. 

Samantha Clark is the Chief Executive Officer

of Learning Disability England.  

This means that she is responsible

for how the organisation is run.

Samantha welcomed me at the conference as a guest. 

The day of the conference was full of meetings. 

So I arrived the night before to have more time  

to meet and get to know Samantha. 

I was lucky during my visit in Manchester 

because I arrived after the storm  

that happened during the last weekend. 

Speaking of inclusion 

When I arrived, 

I met with some members of the Board of Trustees. 

The Board of Trustees are the people 

who decide how to run the organisation. 

Then we had dinner with 25 people. 

They were:  

• self-advocates 
• family members 

• experts and professionals. 

I had the chance to meet the people  

who work at Learning Disability England.  

They are fantastic people who fight for inclusion! 

We all spoke about inclusion. 

We understood each other  

very easily. 

Learning Disability England 

Learning Disability England works for and with: 

• self-advocates 
• families 
• organisations and professionals. 

They say that all these people should work together. 

They also say that people with disabilities  

should always be heard. 

Great workshop 

The conference was interesting  

and people gave very good speeches.  

I did not have the time to go to every workshop,  

but I met many people. 

I really liked one of the workshops. 

It was a presentation of three people with  

Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (in short: PMLD). 

PMLD means that you may have problems:

• speaking 
• seeing 
• hearing  
• and moving. 

People with PMLD need support people 

who help them in their everyday life. 

The three people who spoke at the workshop 

are self-advocates. 

They told us to always include everybody, 

also people with PMLD. 

After going to meetings or events  

by Inclusion Europe or by our members,  

I always feel very much empowered.  

I felt the same way 

when I left this conference in Manchester. 

It was a good visit!”