Author: rix-admin

Waldo Roeg is a CNWL Peer Recovery Trainer and an author of the Health and Wellbeing Plan. Two years ago he was invited to be a part of a pilot project which sought to bring multimedia into the trust as a form of self-advocacy.

“I have used services for 30 years and I know what it’s like to feel as if you don’t have a voice,” he says “but when I was first shown the Wiki I immediately saw it as a fantastic tool that could be used to help advocate for individuals like myself.”

Since the Wiki’s introduction into the recovery college Waldo has worked alongside Rix to create a Health and Wellbeing plan Wiki.

“I have worked in films for a long time and I love storytelling. I love images and I think they are such a brilliant way of communicating our needs, our loves, and our desires. So to find a tool that is a natural fit with that is really exciting.”

Waldo himself has been developing his own Wiki Health and Wellbeing plan and really enjoys the media aspect of the Wiki.

“We use photographs to capture those important moments in our lives and to connect with not just those moments but with things that are important to us. This element of the Wiki has played a huge part in my rediscovering of my own value which had been lost to a certain degree.”

Unlike the paper plan, the Wiki changes an important element: the focus on the positive over the negative.

“It is a really fantastic vehicle for celebrating a person’s strengths rather than always focusing on the negative and that is of great value within mental health services”

says Waldo. He describes it as a “great vehicle for discussion.” The use of a Health and Wellbeing Plan Wiki is completely voluntary and is owned by the individual.

“Some people will chose not to engage in technology and they are welcome to create their plan however they would like, but there will also be people who will find the Wiki a really great way of actually having a voice that they may not have had before through this new multimedia tool.”

One of the biggest concerns of those considering the Wiki is technology. “I am a computer migrant,” Waldo says of his technology skills “and it took a little bit of getting used to,” but it is a small setback that once overcome can open the doors to a whole new world.

“The landscape of how we communicate, how we understand the world now is through these technological mechanisms. Nobody goes around without a mobile phone today and giving people who have been excluded from a lot of that social networking the opportunity to finally be a part of that social network, of being able to find support through the Wiki, makes a huge difference. We use technology and phones as an extension of ourselves and I think the Wiki is a fantastic opportunity to include people who have been excluded from social connectivity and enable them to have a voice.”

Waldo is excited to bring the Wiki to mental health services and believes that it is a

“universal tool with the capacity to serve a wide array of uses. The Wiki is pushing the boundaries of what people can and can’t do. It is pushing the boundaries of involving people in their own care and being able to advocate for themselves and what their needs are. We need to push those boundaries, be more inclusive and Wikis are the vehicle that are going to do that.”

To view case studies about other users of the Rix Wiki, please click here.

The Tower Project is a community based voluntary sector organisation and leading service provider for children and adults with a learning disability, sensory disability, autism, physical disability or health related issue.

Its award winning Job Enterprise and Training Service (JETS) is East London’s leading provider of specialist supported employment services for disabled people and people with long term health conditions.

Scott Kennedy, Training and Development Manager for JETS, is using a Multimedia Advocacy approach and Rix Wikis to enable the young people he works with to showcase their work experience, their skills and aptitudes.

He said, “Wikis mean the young people can develop an online, highly visual CV, with pictures and video clips demonstrating exactly how they are applying their skills in a work environment. They can also present an up to date record of all their achievements.”

“A prospective employer can get to know the young person in a matter of minutes, seeing very quickly what they are capable of and where their talents lie.”

JETS is currently involved in a new project with Hackney College, helping around 10 young people gain specific work experience in three different settings over four months. They will be working at the Olympic Park in Stratford, setting up an Easter market stall in Spitalfields Market and rolling up their sleeves to get stuck in at a social enterprise which provides a valeting service for community transport vehicles.

At the end of the four months, each young person will be awarded three Entry Level 3 Gateway Qualifications, in customer service, work experience and valeting proficiency.

The young people will be recording their experience and skills development each step of the way, through photos and film clips, updating their Wikis to show their progress and learning.

We will also be following them through the four months, seeing how they get on and celebrating their achievements. You’ll be able to get a regular update on their progress right here.

Update – 17/03/2016

The group has just completed their first project, working with Our Parklife in Stratford, and were delighted to receive their certificates at an award ceremony.

Graham Smithers, Head of Services, Tower Project, Job Enterprise and Training Service (JETS) said:

 “We would like to thank Our Parklife for their help with young people with special educational needs in east London, just 7% are in paid employment and schemes like this will go a long way to ensure that more young people with learning disabilities will gain paid employment in the future either at the Olympic Park or at similar thinking establishments.”

Rowan Longhurst, General Manager Our Parklife said:

 “It’s been fantastic having the students from the Tower Project join our dedicated team of Park Champion volunteers here at the Park. We’re committed to providing local young people with the opportunity to be the face of the Park through volunteering on a range of roles – whether it’s Customer services, event support or helping tend to the parklands. The skills they learn with us can open exciting new doors to a range of opportunities that are evolving on the Park all the time.”

Our Parklife is a Community Interest Company (CIC) with a mission to connect local people to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, by providing employment, training and volunteering opportunities.

Top left to right.

Layla Conway – London Legacy Development Corporation; Kadir Yilmaz (19); Mohammed Miraj (19); Sean Hoffman (19); Piergiorgio Carrus – Hackney Community College; Luis Pais (23); Scott Kennedy – Tower Project; Stephen Jackson – Our Parklife

Bottom left to right.

Michael Hogarth (18); Matthew Trew (21); Terrance Frank (20); Arran Graham (19)

Key fact

‘The National Audit Office report “Oversight of special education for young people aged 16-25”, published in November 2011, estimates that supporting one person with a learning disability into employment could, in addition to improving their independence and self-esteem, increase that person’s income by between 55 and 95 percent.’

We have been working with a group of parents who have children aged between 4 and 19 with varying disabilities and complex needs, all of whom either had an EHCP or were in the process of an EHCP, and all of whom confirmed that their child’s views were not sought during their EHCP process.

Only one parent confirmed that her child had been invited to their Annual Review (and stayed for two minutes); for the majority, their child had never been invited.

We wanted to explore how a Multimedia Advocacy approach and the Rix Wiki tool could improve their experience and participation in the EHCP process.  The results were very interesting.

Annual Reviews

Most parents felt that their child/YP could now attend, and contribute to, their Annual Review by using their Wiki.  One confirmed that her son was able to attend and participate in his Annual EHCP Review for the first time.

Collaboration and Communication with Professionals

Parents very much welcome the opportunity for professionals working with their child/YP to provide video input into their Wiki; all felt by having a Wiki their child’s/YP’s EHCP could be better co-ordinated in a joined up way.  For example, one child’s paediatrician provided medical information on their Wiki to aid with secondary school transition.

All parents strongly agreed that their child’s/YP’s communication will be better understood by everyone involved with their child’s/YP’s education and care by accessing their Wiki.

     “The short video of xxx singing the ABC song clearly showed how he tries to pronounce sounds, and this is instant information without having to spend time trying to speak to other professionals.  In time these clips will build to demonstrate improvement progress (or not).”

Comment from parent.

All parents felt that information could be shared in an effective way between professionals by using their child/YP’s Wiki.

     “Makes me and the family more reassured and less stressed to know that we have a way to communicate easily and effectively with others involved in his life”.

Comment from parent.

Transition

All parents felt that having a Wiki could facilitate a smoother transition between educational and residential settings.

     “Leaving home, this would be a fantastic tool to ensure support staff and work experience staff know everything”.
Comment from parent.

     “I can see how this will augment communication and sharing of information between my son and everyone working to support him. As he progresses into adulthood and away from home, we will be able to withdraw, confident that those responsible for him in the future will have access to his history and a clear picture of his current needs; will benefit from input from those who have known him best and xxx himself.”
Comment from parent.

     “I can see the enormous potential of the WIKI for xxx – who is nearly 20 years old.”
Comment from parent.

Achieving for Children (AfC) is a social enterprise company set up  by Kingston and Richmond Councils to provide targeted help and support to children and families in need within the two London boroughs.  It has partnered with Rix Research & Media to pioneer the use of Multimedia Advocacy and the Rix Wiki tool and training to embed person-centred approaches which, it believes will be invaluable in implementing the new Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) for those with learning disabilities in the area.

James Mannion, Business Systems Project Manager for AfC, said, “We want to empower our children and young people who face challenges because of their communications difficulties, to show how they can use Wikis to get across their preferences and viewpoints by using pictures, sounds, video and words – to give them a voice and enable them to take control of their lives.  We call this multimedia advocacy.

“We want people to take a full and active role in the EHCP process, and we believe that using Wikis will lead to genuine collaboration between parents, teachers and professionals.”

AfC hosted an event in October last year to show children, parents, carers and teachers in the learning disability community how Multimedia Advocacy and the Rix Wiki can support them.  After the event, James asked parents and carers to share their comments which are highlighted below.  The feedback is critical in ensuring the roll out of Wikis within the borough is effective.

How do you think you might use Wikis?

“I think I could develop a Wiki for /with my autistic Son and use it to collate a full picture of his strengths, aspirations and difficulties.”

“Collecting information from a child/young person’s perspective for Section A of an EHC plan.”

“I like it as a tool to make my son visible to service providers, e.g. local authorities, SAL, and other therapies. And perhaps it can be a campaigning and advocacy tool?”

“As a place for our child to see and celebrate his many successes and friendships.”

“amongst family and professionals to have a greater understanding of my child when he can’t always express things himself for his needs.”

What do you see as the benefits of using Wikis?

“not having to explain how my child is affected by his condition to everyone all the time”

“It is my son in his environment and snapshots of his actual life and not a piece of paper that service providers get to see. He might find it very empowering to be involved in creating this.”

“The wiki presents as a user friendly, up to the minute way of engaging a child/young person in the process of creating their EHC plan in a positive meaningful way, without appearing an overwhelming, bureaucratic or overly corporate process in which they may feel they don’t belong.”

As a result of the event, there are a further four schools who want to lead the way using Multimedia Advocacy and Rix Wikis and there are also two families who want to use Wikis for their annual reviews.

AfC is also taking further the use of Rix Wikis in Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans.  Instead of using a conventional Section A of an EHC plan, parents and carers could use a Wiki instead of the form to convey the views, interests and aspirations of the child or young person.

This is an exemplar of a new EHC plan template that has been posted on AfC’s Local Offer website  https://www.afclocaloffer.org.uk/.

www.incluedu.com

Rix Inclusive Research was a partner organisation for the three year European project, Inclu Edu, from 2014 -2017. IncluEdu is a strategic partnership of leading European Educators and Researchers who collectively have a unique expertise in the field of ICT and inclusive learning. IncluEdu, with the support of EU project funding, has developed a range of competence based courses that enable European Educators to use tablets and mobile devices to activate and empower their learners.  The courses, which are delivered in a number of major European cities, aim to enable European education organisations to provide more inclusive, personalised education for people with and without special educational needs.

Alongside our tablet courses we have created a lively online community platform where educators can exchange ideas and best practice with like-minded peers from across Europe. They can also access a wide range of learning resources and success stories, from which they can draw inspiration and gain concrete practical skills. Register here to join the community yourself.

Mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets are now commonplace in today´s society and we see a significant increase in their usage in school and adult education. The use of mobile devices radically changes the way we learn through enhanced motivation to learn and new possibilities for personalised and group learning. Rix has developed the best practice model for implementing personalised learning with tablets using person-centred multimedia advocacy approaches and tools.  These approaches empower individuals to take control of their lives, and to communicate and fully engage with their learning.

IncluEdu has designed a range of competence based courses that enable teachers and educators to successfully introduce tablets and mobile ICT into their teaching and learning. Our courses help teachers to become more effective educators who can activate and empower their learners using tablets and mobile devices.

The Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) in the United States has given its prestigious International Service Award to Andy Minnion MBE, Professor of Media Advocacy at Rix Research & Media; this is the first time that the Award has been given to an individual based outside the US.  The Award recognises outstanding contributions that further programmes or policies designed to create more inclusive communities for people with disabilities and their families throughout the world.  It honours Andy Minnion’s exceptional work in the field of new media and inclusive research, development and knowledge exchange.

The AUCD International Service Award nomination stated:  “Andy works as a researcher, lecturer, workshop leader, and producer of new media. He has been responsible for developing the ‘Multimedia Advocacy’ approach at the Rix Centre, whereby people with disabilities use self-made media to take greater control of their own lives and challenge their social exclusion.  He has led research and knowledge exchange project work in this field since 2001. Andy’s work with Rix draws support from UK and EU research as well as charitable and commercial activity and engages with local and national government policy makers, academia, business and industry, alongside people with intellectual disabilities and their families.”

Professor Andy Minnion said: “I am delighted and deeply honoured to receive this award.  There is so much excellent work being done around the world to drive positive change in the lives of people with learning disabilities and their families.  New media technology is enabling better communication and ever greater levels of self-directed support and I’m incredibly proud of the work that we do at Rix at the forefront of this change.  Since last year, we have been working in partnership with the Westchester Institute for Human Development in New York State as well as the Federal Administration on Community Living, to introduce a Multimedia Approach to self-advocacy for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to the US.”

Accepting the Award, Andy Minnion highlighted that Rix, based at the University of East London (UEL), shared the values and goals of the 67 University Centres for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs) across the US that comprise the AUCD network.  Rix and AUCD share the unwavering commitment to person-centred working and the promotion of self-advocacy for people with disabilities that are at the heart of Rix’s approach.  He also drew a parallel between the Kennedy family, which has always championed the cause of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the US, and the Rix family in the UK.  Both families include members with intellectual disabilities and have fought for the rights of the people with intellectual disabilities in public and policy circles, in each case helping to build significant changes to attitude and support provision for this community.  President Jack Kennedy first instituted the UCEDDs in 1963 and Lord Brian Rix was instrumental in the establishment of the UK Charity Mencap, as well as the Rix Centre at UEL in the UK.

Andy Minnion has dedicated the Award to Lord Brian Rix, his family and his tireless campaign for people with disabilities in the UK as well as to the dozens of people with intellectual disabilities who have worked with the Rix Research & Media centre at UEL since the work started.

Rix Media has now launched the new Rix Wiki. This uses HTML5 technology so that it is more responsive across all platforms and has a number of significant enhancements.

All our current customers will have their existing Rix Wikis moved over to the new format. This means that you can benefit from the improvements and additional functionality of the new technology as soon as possible.

We have scheduled this move to take place from 10.00am on Thursday 29 October to 9.00am on Monday 2 November. Please note that you will NOT be able to access your Wiki during this time as Rix Media will be working hard behind the scenes to ensure the transition to the new Rix Wikis happens smoothly.

We know how important our customers’ Wikis are and we have kept the time needed to complete the transition as short as we can. We ask that you please bear with us while we make these exciting changes.

From 9.00am on Monday 2 November, you will be able to log in on a new website – www.rixwiki.org – using your existing log in details.

All the current content on your Rix Wiki will still be there – you won’t lose any information. But you’ll find the following improvements once you’ve logged on to your new Rix Wiki.

• The fully-flexible software gives users interactive access and seamless management of all your wiki content, wherever you are and on whatever devices you use.

• The new Rix Wiki enables you to make your wiki completely personal. The pages of content can be organised and re-organised in any order to highlight important information.

• You can use sections and sub-sections to organise your content, where multiple links such as Google maps, and multiple files in any format can be added.

• Video can be uploaded (from YouTube, Vimeo or personal film) and images can be added, cropped and rotated from any device; the software ensures any picture or clip is clearly viewable on any platform.

• All the information on Rix Wikis is private and secure and you can choose what information your share and with whom. You can be very selective, deciding to share only specific sections or even just specific information within those sections.

• It has an automated text to speech feature; this can be personalised so that viewers of the wiki can hear your voice, or the voice of someone you choose.

We’ve put together a series of videos to help you find out about the new format and ensure you can make the most of the new functions. Click this link to learn more Wiki Master Videos

If you have any questions or concerns, please call 020 8223 7561 or email rixadmin@uel.ac.uk

Charlton Park Academy, an extremely successful, oversubscribed secondary special academy within the Royal Borough of Greenwich, has fully adopted the unique multimedia advocacy approach developed by Rix Research & Media. The School uses Rix Wikis for all 240 of its pupils and this year’s Ofsted Residential Inspection Report has highlighted how the use of Wikis has enabled very effective person-centred planning.

The Ofsted report for Charlton Park Academy confirmed that:

“Residential care plans now include an explanation of how staff are to engage and ensure that they plan care to include students and that plans are as accessible as possible. The school has exceeded this suggestion in the development of safe online individual forums, called ‘wikis’, for sharing plans and achievements. These student-led and created websites have enabled grandparents living overseas to also share in the celebrations of residential students’ progress. This technology and empowering process gives control of plans to residential students and means that students can define their own identity, hopes and aspirations.”

Earlier this year, Kathryn Stowell, Head of Outreach and AAC at Charlton Park Academy, held a live webinar to share her experience of using Rix Wikis within a school environment. You can see the webinar here

Rix Wikis have now been adopted by around ten Local Authorities and over 100 schools and organisations in the UK, EU, US and Australia to embed person-centred approaches. These services and organisations are actively working with Rix Wikis to support individuals with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities to live the lives that they want to lead.