Dudley Voices for Choice has got money from the National Lottery Community Fund
The money is to start a West Midlands Self Advocacy Network
This is for people who have a learning disability and people who have autism
It has taken a long time to plan and apply for the money
It has been good to tell people we will not close
This is really good and we are all excited
We are going to employ 11 learning disability champions for the network
The learning disability champions will be someone from each area who has a learning disability or autism
They will be paid to work to speak up for people in their local areas
They will go the network meetings to talk about what problems people are having
People at the network meetings will tell the government, the council, job centres and NHS about problems
They will say there need to be a changes to help people
Neil Davies from Dudley Voices for Choice said,
It is important for us to have a voice and for the government to listen to us
With the money from the National Lottery Players the voices of people with learning disabilities and people with autism can be heard
