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Newham Easy Read’ website launch – Wed 14 November

Friday 9 November 2007

A new ground-breaking information website for people with learning disabilities in East London is to be launched with a Party at Stratford Circus for the talented young people who have made the Website themselves and for their local peers who will be using it!

More than 70 local people with learning disabilities have been building and testing the site over recent months using digital cameras and state of the art 'Easy-Build Websites' developed at the Rix Centre at the University of East London (UEL). The event is at the Stratford Circus on Wednesday 14 November and will launch the Web 'Portal' that joins all the sites together as a 'super site' for information and advise for Newham teenagers with learning difficulties. The website is called 'Newham Easy Read' and can be found online at: www.newhameasyread.org

Newham Easy Read has been developed by the Rix Centre for innovation and learning disability at UEL in partnership with over 35 different groups that work with people with learning disabilities and their families in the neighbourhood. This is an innovative pilot project that pioneers uniquely inclusive and accessible Web Design by the Rix Centre, developed in partnership with Newham Council and the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). The Project sponsors include UEL, BP and the Jack Petchey Foundation.

Andy Minnion, Director of the Rix Centre at UEL, will present the project and introduce some of the people who have made websites. He says, "Young people with learning disabilities need information to help them prepare for life as they leave school and college. It's a difficult time for anyone and if you have disabilities you need guidance on how to get support and access services to help you achieve independence.

“The Web provides a great route for this information to get to the people that need it, by using multimedia people can tell each other what they need to know in ways that are easier to understand than the standard text publications. This is how the Newham Easy Read Website works - and we are really encouraged by how eagerly young people from the area have got involved with supporting each other in this imaginative way!'

There will be a Website 'Search and Discover' competition at the launch and the first prize is a digital camera. There will also be a 'Graffiti Wall' and a 'Video Box' for further gathering and sharing of advice and opinion by the Borough's young people to add to yet another new website - which will be created live at the event by young people with the Rix Centre team. After lunch there will is a Bollywood dance workshop and a celebratory disco led by a DJ with learning disabilities from the 'Kicking Kangaroo Club'.

We are expecting more than 120 people to attend including teenagers with learning disabilities from local schools and colleges and their parents and teachers.

Ends/.

For details and pictures contact Patrick Wilson: 020 8223 2061 or 07951 797 975

Notes to Editors

The University of East London (UEL) is a global learning community with over 28,000 students from over 120 countries world-wide. Our vision is to achieve recognition, both nationally and internationally, as a successful and inclusive regional university proud of its diversity, committed to new modes of learning which focus on students and enhance their employability, and renowned for our contribution to social, cultural and economic development, especially through our research and scholarship. We have a strong track-record in widening participation and working with industry.

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