Leaders of Speak Out Cambridgeshire visited St Ives on Friday (24 March) to offer top tips on housing and employment for young people with learning disabilities and young autistic people.

The group was invited to Cambridgeshire County Council’s ‘preparing for adulthood’ event at Burgess Hall as part of their role to be a voice for people aged 14 or above in the county who have a learning disability or are autistic.

Speak Out is led by people with learning disabilities and autistic people, who are employed by voice and rights charity VoiceAbility to raise issues that are important to them in their lives to professionals who can make a difference. 

VoiceAbility has also been providing free, independent advocacy in Cambridgeshire since 1996.

Speak Out leaders Sean Nightingale, Bill Jones and Elspeth Jones spoke to around 80 people about their experiences of finding somewhere to live in Huntingdon and Cambridge respectively, while Ashley shared his top tips for getting a job.

Some of Sean’s tips included thinking about what you want to have near you, like shops or buses, and checking what the internet connection is like.

His partner’s family also worked with them on skills to prepare them for living together, such as budgeting, household chores, getting along together and improving his cooking ability.

Fellow Speak Out leader Neil Adams, who was involved in organising the St Ives event, said: “It was really exciting to go to the 'preparing for adulthood' event because young people have been telling us that they need more information about how to find a job, where they want to live in the future and opportunities to make friends and connections in their local community.” 

To find out more about Speak Out Cambridgeshire, visit voiceability.org/speakout.

For more information about the free services that VoiceAbility provides in Cambridgeshire, go to voiceability.org/cambridgeshire.