Latest news with #learningdisability
Finextra
6 days ago
- Business
- Finextra
CI&T delivers prototype app for Project Nemo
CI&T, an AI and tech acceleration partner, has today announced Nemo, Art of the Possible — a groundbreaking prototype of a financial app created in collaboration with Project Nemo, the not-for-profit grassroots initiative driving to improve disability inclusion in the fintech and financial services industries. 0 Nemo was designed to support any adult with a learning disability in managing their finances more independently and safely. The prototype is a direct response to the Project Nemo report, Safe Spending for Adults with a Learning Disability, published earlier in June, developed by Firefish, sponsored by Nationwide and commissioned by Project Nemo, with support from Mencap and Dosh. The report exposed a stark reality: 38% of people with learning disabilities need ongoing help with everyday spending, and 32% do not have a bank account in their own name. It also highlighted how complex banking processes, inaccessible tools, and a lack of personalised support leave many financially excluded and at risk. CI&T's team engaged directly with individuals with lived experience — people with learning disabilities, carers, and accessibility experts — to design an app that addresses these challenges head-on. For the first time, this community has had a direct voice at the design table—an opportunity to share their needs and perspectives with the financial services industry. This marks a significant shift from the past, when individuals with learning disabilities had little choice but to accept what was offered. Now, their input provides valuable, practical insights that can help shape more inclusive and responsive banking services. In only six weeks, CI&T created Nemo, leveraging CI&T's enterprise-ready AI platform CI&T FLOW. Built with accessibility and ease of use as core principles, Nemo is a highly adaptive, inclusive digital product that empowers users to take control of their financial lives, while still allowing for trusted support where needed. While primarily designed for adults with learning disabilities, its advanced features and versatile configurability also significantly benefit neurodiverse individuals and anyone seeking greater confidence and support in managing their finances. Some of these features include: Supported decision-making: Users maintain complete control of their accounts; supporters can view and offer encouragement, but never act without explicit permission. Personalised onboarding: The app adapts to each user's confidence, habits, and accessibility needs. Calm mode: Reduces sensory overload and simplifies the interface during stressful moments. Emergency pot: A protected fund for unexpected needs, with optional spending locks and supporter assistance. Supporter Oversight: Trusted third parties receive real-time alerts and offer support while users remain in control. Learning over time: The app evolves with users, gradually unlocking more features as confidence grows. 'The path to true innovation is paved with diversity, accessibility, and inclusion,' said Solange Sobral, EVP & Partner at CI&T. 'This project truly reflects the Art of the Possible, and we hope it serves as a catalyst for financial institutions to lead the way in evolving digital products to be more inclusive. We're proud to partner with Project Nemo to build a solution that gives individuals with learning disabilities greater financial autonomy.' 'I'm incredibly thankful to the CI&T team for not only pulling this together so quickly, but also with such remarkable care, attention, and quality. This combination is rare and a true testament to a team and culture that performs exceptionally while engaging thoughtfully through the entire process. Seeing something so powerful created, something the community can now truly touch and interact with, is a profound way of giving voice to their needs.' said Joanne Dewar, Founder of Project Nemo. Some of the individuals with firsthand experience who collaborated on the prototype's development included Kris Foster, Co-Founder of Project Nemo and George Webster, a BAFTA-winning actor and presenter known from CBeebies and Mencap. Webster is featured in the prototype and presents in-app video explanations, such as for Terms and Conditions, to make them easier to understand. The app is not only a practical tool, but also a statement of intent. It demonstrates how the financial sector can and should evolve to serve everyone, not just those who fit the standard mould. It also shows that inclusive innovation doesn't require compromise, only the will to involve those most affected from the start. The launch marks a milestone in the movement for financial accessibility, a practical, purpose-driven solution that turns research into action and empowers a community that has waited too long to be included. With this launch, CI&T and Project Nemo are driving toward a more equitable financial future where independence and inclusion are within reach for everyone.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Some people with learning disabilities struggling to access banking
Some adults with learning disabilities could be raising their risk of financial harm due to struggles to access banking services, a report has warned. Informal workarounds are being used to help some people with a learning disability to get by financially, including handing over Pins to others and allowing family members to impersonate them on the phone. The research was published by Project Nemo – a not-for-profit campaign for disability inclusion in banking and financial technology – and sponsored by Nationwide Building Society. Around a third (32%) of adults with a learning disability who took part in the research did not have their own bank account. Some of those who took part in the research said they struggle with passwords or logins, or find it difficult to talk to bank staff, or find security checks hard to complete. The report also argued that the general shift away from payments made using coins and banknotes may have left vulnerable people behind. The report recommended that financial technology developers and financial services providers should include clear and simple language in banking features, with visual explanations where possible. The ability to intercept 'risky' purchases could also help to bolster people's independence, the report said. Features for products should include savings pots, a calm mode to reduce overwhelm, and wearable alternatives to payment cards, researchers suggested. Researchers carried out in-depth interviews as well as a survey of more than 1,600 people who identified as having a characteristic of vulnerability. Kris Foster, co-founder of Project Nemo, urged banks to 'break down the existing barriers'. Kathryn Townsend, Nationwide's head of customer vulnerability and accessibility, said: 'Everyone deserves to manage their money with confidence, dignity and independence.' Jon Sparkes, chief executive of charity Mencap, said: 'People with a learning disability tell us that they can struggle to make payments safely because of complex banking systems, inaccessible payment options and a lack of 'easy read' information. 'Because of these barriers, many worry about being more vulnerable to financial abuse and not being able to spend their money in the way they want to. Project Nemo's work is a hugely important step towards ensuring the 1.5 million people with a learning disability across the UK can make their financial choices safely and independently.' A spokesperson for trade body UK Finance said: 'The banking and finance industry is committed to helping all customers. Firms offer a range of services to help support customers with learning disabilities, and we encourage people to contact their bank to discuss the options available. The industry also works with various third sector organisations to help them understand challenges customers face and improve accessibility. 'To ensure cash access is still available for all, customers are able to withdraw and deposit money in banking hubs and post offices across the UK.' UK Finance also released a report on Thursday into progress made by banks following the introduction of the Disability Finance Code for Entrepreneurship (DFCE) in December 2024, which aims to improve the entrepreneurial landscape for people with disabilities. The code sets out commitments to further widen opportunities for disabled entrepreneurs, including providing people with accessible and practical support, such as mentoring and networking events. The report said banks' initiatives include establishing specific teams dedicated to disability inclusion, with a focus on tracking and supporting people who identify as having a disability. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Irish Times
6 days ago
- General
- Irish Times
‘Uncertain future': concerns for students with mild disabilities over proposed redesignation of special schools
Within weeks of starting secondary school in September 2024, Emer Cobbe could see her son's confidence begin to drain away. 'He was sitting in a classroom with other kids who were just firing ahead of him academically. By the second term, he had hit rock bottom. Really, looking back, he was drowning,' she recalls. Conor had been diagnosed with a mild general learning disability at the start of primary school. Most children with this type of diagnosis have a lower IQ and may struggle to understand concepts and can struggle to make friends as they grow older. While they may start out in mainstream schools, many fall behind as they get older. READ MORE By chance, Cobbe heard of Scoil Eoin in Crumlin in south Dublin, a special school that caters to children with mild general learning disabilities aged between nine and 18 years. While speaking to the school principal Debbie O'Neill on a visit with her son, she burst into tears. 'She just got him; she understood and described him to a tee ... Children like Conor, they don't step above the parapet, they don't have behavioural problems. They sit there quietly and you'd never know anything was going wrong.' Since he enrolled last September, Cobbe says her son is like a different child. 'He loves not having a uniform; talking with his friends on the bus; having the same teacher for all classes. He's good with his hands and loves woodwork and cooking, which he was wasn't able to do before ... He's happy and feels a huge sense of achievement,' she says. Debbie O'Neill, principal of Scoil Eoin, with pupils. The school caters to pupils with mild disabilities who have struggled in mainstream, but do not have the complex conditions associated with students in other special schools. Photograph: Alan Betson O'Neill says she sees success stories like Conor's all the time: most of its students go on to complete the Leaving Cert Applied and progress into further education courses or employment. Now, however, the principal worries that much of this work is under threat. She says special schools such as Scoil Eoin, which cater to children with mild general learning disabilities, are being put under pressure by the Government to change their classification and cater instead to pupils with more complex needs. This, she says, means children with mild disabilities will be 'pushed back into mainstream schools that have already failed them'. In all, there are 30 special schools that cater to children with mild general learning disabilities, serving more than 3,000 pupils in 30 schools across 19 counties. [ Boy who repeated sixth class because schools were full still has no secondary school place Opens in new window ] A circular issued by the Department of Education in recent weeks states that the work is due to begin on 'reviewing the designation of existing special schools'. The department says many special schools originally established to cater to students with a mild general learning disability have 'diversified' and now respond to a 'broader range of students' needs from within their respective catchment areas'. It says this is in keeping with the department's policy on inclusive education, and facilitates students with more complex needs to be educated in their local special school. O'Neill, however, says the proposed redesignation of schools represents not just a policy shift, but a 'direct threat to the quality and integrity of education provided to our students'. 'Their educational futures – and their fundamental right to appropriate, specialised support – are now at serious risk,' she says. 'These students are some of the most misunderstood and overlooked in the education system and they are now left with an uncertain future.' Scoil Eoin at teacher Jane McCluskey and principal Debbie O'Neill with students. Photograph: Alan Betson It may, on the face of it, seem like a technical reclassification, O'Neill says. In reality, she says, it would 'fundamentally alter who we are and who we serve'. 'These children learn differently but they are every bit as capable of growth, success and joy when given the right environment. This is what our schools provide,' she says. 'Many of our students have experienced years of struggle in mainstream, facing school refusal, anxiety, or deep feelings of failure. In our schools, they find stability, dignity, and hope. They are not just surviving; they are thriving.' These special schools deliver the full primary curriculum, junior cycle and the Leaving Certificate Applied. Instead of creating new special school places, she says the department's plan 'simply reallocates existing ones'. This, she says, will end up pushing children with mild general learning disabilities back into mainstream environments that have already failed them. 'This is not inclusive education. It is reactive, rushed, and deeply unfair.' Minister for Education Helen McEntee has said her department is committed to delivering an education system where 'every child and young person feels valued and is actively supported and nurtured to reach their full potential'. Her department says that as more special classes are provided, particularly at post-primary level, this provides more options for children with complex special needs to attend local schools. 'It is essential that special schools work to support children with the most complex needs and that children are not required to pass one or more special schools to access a special school place, because of the narrow designation of some special schools. It is essential that we work to ensure more children requiring a special school place can access their nearest special school.' Cobbe, meanwhile, is convinced that the Government move is a retrograde step. 'I think those in authority don't understand; they don't see the spectrum of need ... It could be the difference between a child working in a job they thrive in or being on supports for the rest of their life.' Her son Conor, now 15, has thrived in sports, in particular, and is thinking of becoming a carpenter. 'Last week he won a football match in Portlaoise, an All-Ireland for children with mild disabilities, and felt a huge sense of achievement. He was made to feel hugely valued. These are kids who have other talents than academic ones. We really need to value them.'
Daily Mail
7 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
ROSA MONCKTON: Why I'll fight in the Lords against this breathtakingly cruel and ignorant assisted suicide Bill
Last week in the House of Commons we saw two measures passed: the first licensing women to abort at up to full term, the second enabling the state to participate in, and even encourage, suicide for the terminally ill. There is a terrible symmetry here, and a bleak message – that life at its beginning, and at its end, is worthless. As the mother of an adult with a learning disability I am petrified by the lack of protection for vulnerable people in the assisted suicide Bill. You spend much of your life as a parent of a disabled child fighting for the necessary support, for the right school, the therapists, a specialist college. Every time you think you can take a breath and relax, the next milestone and hurdle awaits. You worry endlessly. The biggest concern for every parent is what will happen when we are dead. Who will look after our 'child', who will understand their needs, care for them in the right way and facilitate their way through life? But now, to add to that worry, is another enormous and unspeakable question – how can we stop them being killed? I cannot believe that I am having to write these words. Yet the assisted suicide Bill makes no special provision whatsoever for this disenfranchised group. How have we got to this place, where some lives are valued more than others? Many people with a learning disability are vulnerable. My own 30-year-old daughter, Domenica, who has Down's syndrome – and loves life – is highly suggestible and would intuit what her interlocutor wanted to hear, without understanding what she would be agreeing to. Yet in law she has what is called 'capacity'. The Bill is flawed on so many levels: the fact that no one on the death panel has to have any knowledge of the individual, the fact that hospices and care homes that do not want to be involved in assisted suicide will have no protection in law and the fact that their government funding could be based on participation. Where does that sit with the ethos of Dame Cicely Saunders, who founded the hospice movement? A movement based on the principle of care: 'You matter because you are you, and you matter to the end of your life. We will do all we can not only to help you die peacefully, but also to live until you die.' She also said: 'Suffering is only intolerable when nobody cares.' People who work in hospices do care, and the hospices that I have visited and am involved with are wonderful, positive and life-affirming places. Those who work in these hospices who do not approve of assisted suicide – which is almost all of them – will probably leave the palliative care profession. And where does that leave us? With people who want to end the lives of others, not care to the end. All legislators – of which I am one, in the House of Lords – should be considering the weakest and most vulnerable when making momentous, and in this case, literal, life and death decisions. The Bill as it stands has no special protection for people like my daughter. This is something that rightly troubles the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, too. Explaining his decision to vote against the Bill in a Facebook post aimed at his constituents, he said: 'I can't get past the concerns expressed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the Royal College of Physicians, the Association for Palliative Medicine and a wide range of charities representing under-privileged groups in our society about the risks that come with this Bill.' Among the many amendments rejected by the committee set up by the sponsor of the bill, Kim Leadbeater MP, were safeguards to protect people with Down's syndrome – an amendment which should have included all people with a learning disability or autism. The committee, of which the great majority were backers of the Bill, rejected by 13 to eight to exclude special support for those with Down's syndrome when discussing assisted suicide. How could this possibly be considered acceptable? Was there not one of those 13 with experience of what it is to have a learning disability; no understanding of how much specialised knowledge and interpretation is needed? If anyone mentions death or dying to my daughter, she immediately becomes acutely anxious and troubled. The deaths we have had in our family have traumatised her. The thought of a stranger telling her that to kill herself would be an option if she has a terminal illness is so frightening and chilling that it makes me cry, and the fact this could all happen without any of her family being informed – as the Bill enables – is breathtakingly cruel and ignorant. But above all else it makes me angry. Angry at the lack of rigour in this bill. Angry at the lack of understanding of people with learning disabilities. Angry at the implicit assumption that their lives are not worth the same as the rest of the population. We saw it during the Covid pandemic, when the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which provides guidance to the NHS and the social care sector, divided the population into different categories and advised how each should be treated. Category 7 was defined as 'completely dependent for personal care, from whatever cause, physical or cognitive. Even so, they seem stable and at no risk of dying'. That would have covered my daughter. Categories 7 to 9 were to be denied lifesaving treatment. Legislators have a duty to be rigorous and fair. You cannot make laws because Dame Esther Rantzen lobbied the Prime Minister, or because someone's granny had an avoidably terrible death. This should never have been a Private Member's Bill. It has not had the scrutiny or the parliamentary time necessary for such a momentous change in the way we live and die. It is a law for the strong and determined against the weak and the vulnerable. All of us in Parliament should know which of those needs the most protection.
BBC News
21-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
Fermanagh: Adults with learning disabilities graduate with qualifications
For many adults with a learning disability gaining a recognised qualification may seem out of reach, but that has not been the case for one group in County week 22 service users from Killadeas Day Centre were honoured for their achievements in animal care and gardening, hospitality and performing arts.A year of practical hands-on work, combined with written coursework means they will be receiving Level 1 qualifications from the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment (CCEA) in gathered this week to celebrate their accomplishments with a graduation ceremony at Fermanagh Fun Farm in Lisbellaw – a social enterprise which helped make it possible. 'It's their turn' "They have achieved this qualification through hard work, through dedication," said Patricia Griffith from Killadeas Day Centre."They've been very committed to doing it. They've had the support of Alan and the team here at the farm and of daycare staff, but they've done it themselves."She said there was a "real sense of achievement in the air" at the graduation ceremony on Wednesday and everyone was very excited, especially as it took place during Learning Disability Week."If you consider that in the majority of their lifetime they will never achieve an accredited qualification or haven't done," she told BBC News NI."They've seen their brothers and sisters going off to college and university. They have attended graduations. And now it's their turn." Every week for the past year service users from the centre have been spending time at the help look after the animals, others have been developing their gardening skills, while a weekly community coffee morning has helped others gain experience in Christmas, they also wrote and performed their own nativity play with the rescue animals they care for co-starring. 'It's a long time coming' According to her mum, a year ago Clodagh was "afraid of everything", but now she is graduating with an Early Level Occupational Study award in performing Rooney, who is from Enniskillen, said the course has given the 46-year-old much more confidence, especially around animals. "She's far more outgoing. She didn't really like animals before and now she's with all the animals. "I believe there's a massive rooster in one of the sheds and she's in there on her own and potters about. "Unless I had seen it, I would hardly believe it. So this has been good for her."Margaret said Clodagh couldn't sleep the night before because she was so excited thinking about her graduation and what she would wear for the ceremony. "I said, you will have a lovely cap on you and you're going to have a lovely gown. 'That is beautiful, mummy. That is beautiful'".Margaret said the day was also very emotional for her."I had tears, because I was just saying, they have as much right to have their little graduation, to make them feel important, make them have their day."It's been a long time coming, and hopefully there'll be many more." A social enterprise is a business that aims to combine making profit with creating positive social or environmental impact for a local many social enterprises offer work placements to those with a disability, the unique aspect of the scheme in Lisbellaw is that those taking part finish with a Level 1 or 2 Occupational Studies qualification from CCEA, which is the equivalent of a reason they are able to do that is because the owner of Fermanagh Fun Farm, Alan Potters, is a former teacher and is able to grade their his grandparents and uncle passed away, his family farm was lying unused and he was inspired to transform it into a fun farm after a school trip to over 100 animals – most of which have been rescued – the project has grown in recent years and in June 2024 he sat down to plan how he could combine his former job with his current one. Not a gesture or a token "We never even imagined how successful it would be and to be standing here today with these young people getting into qualifications, it's just absolutely phenomenal."They are recognised qualifications, so it's not just a wee gesture or a token. It's something that can help them in the future," he said. "These are all life skills that they have now got and will be able to take with them."Mr Potters wants to continue the partnership and expand it in future, but said costs are a major issue because demand for funding is high."When it started off here, we had just two people in animal care, and now there's about 20 service users on site doing different projects. We want that to continue." Ms Griffith told BBC News NI the programme has improved the quality of life for the adults who have been involved."Their physical, their mental well-being, their confidence - they're walking taller."They're much, much more confident in everything they do, and they're proud of their achievements. That they should be. And as we are of them."
