Project Ability has received funding from the Scottish Government to invite people with learning disabilities, the length and breadth of Scotland, to take part in a programme of visual art workshops!

An arts team from Project Ability, a professional artist and a leading learning disability artist, will come to a venue of your choosing; it can be your centre, club or home and deliver a visual arts workshop individually tailored to meet your needs.  The workshop will last between 1 ½ and 2 hours.

Taking part is good for you! Learn new skills, meet new people and be part of a Scotland-wide creative programme.

You can choose from two workshops:

1. Handmade books – using a variety of techniques which could include stitching, binding, marbling at the end of the workshop you will have made a beautiful book
2. Textiles – we can deliver a wide range of workshops including fabric printing, cushions, wall hangings, bags.

We will bring the materials and deliver a workshop for up to 6 people. The work is yours to keep. We will photograph it and post it on the online project blog. Over the next twelve months the blog will record and map the creative achievements of Scotland’s learning disability community.

If you want to take part, would like more information, or want to book a workshop contact:

Elisabeth Gibson, Director, Project Ability
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 0141 552 2822

The September 2014 edition of the Project Search Newsletter is now available and can be read here: Project Search Newsletter Sept 2014 (PDF)

Project Search was founded in Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre, America in 1996, when Erin Riehle was Director of Cincinnati Children’s Emergency Department and she formed a partnership with Susie Rutkowski to create Project Search.

The course is specifically for people who have Autism, Asperger’s syndrome or a learning difficulty, to help them get into employment. Our own Project Search is based in the Graham Hills Building of the University of Strathclyde, where Siobhan Martin is our instructor and Katie Ballantyne is our Job Coach—they will help us through the course.

The course will last for one year from August 2014 till June 2015. During the course we’ll all be doing 3 rotations for 10 weeks each and in between the rotations we’ll have 1 week of preparation to help us with our next rotation. In the areas of our rotations we’ll be given a buddy to help us settle in and our supervisor will help support us with any problem we might come across.

There will still be some classroom work involved, such as interview techniques, redoing our CV’s, phone/email practise and applying for jobs. The aim is to gain new employability skills and gain fulltime employment at the end.

For more information, see the new newsletter.

Scottish Autism are delighted that their online parent and carer support programme, Right Click, has been shortlisted in this year’s Talk Talk Digital Hero Awards in the Skills category. The awards are open to a public vote from now until the 25th September and there’s a £5000 prize for each category winner.

As Right Click is funded solely by donations and fundraising, Scottish Autism would very much appreciate all support in getting one step closer to the prize by voting for them for this award. Simply click the link and vote for Charlene Tait, Scottish Autism’s Digital Skills Hero.

Research is being undertaken into autism and anxiety.  The link below is for a short survey, which asks questions about the impact of anxiety and what, if anything, has helped people with autism to manage their anxiety.

If you are, or have been, affected by anxiety, and you want to take part, then click the link below.  The link will take you to an information page with more details prior to starting the survey.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/anfhs

Autism Initiatives‘ Highland One Stop Shop in Inverness has published its latest Newsletter.