People with learning disabilities in Ukraine – What can we do?

Identifying a humanitarian response to people with learning disabilities and their carers in Ukraine at a time of conflict.

This webinar held on the 18th March 2021 was a conversation between the hosts: Dr Christine Nightingale (Associate Dean FMH, UEA), Jonathan Beebee (Professional Lead for Learning Disability Nursing at the Royal College of Nursing) with agencies and advocates: Enable https://www.enable.org.uk/ and Inclusion Europe https://www.inclusion-europe.eu/ working to support people with learning disabilities and their carers in Ukraine.

There is a deep concern among the learning disability nursing community and other health and care professionals in the UK for the plight of people with learning disabilities and their carers, who are most often disempowered and abandoned in times of conflict. During the conversation we were joined by Raisa, an advocate and mother, of an adult son who has learning disabilities. Raisa described vividly how families are attempting to take shelter during periods of fighting, and about the need for basic supplies and medication. The campaigning and advocacy organisations: Enable and Inclusion Europe described their current efforts to maintain contact and support disabled people in Ukraine and made suggestions about how delegates can best use their energies to make a difference for people with learning disabilities.