What the media group has done so far.

First week we spoke about being in a group, second week was what we can already do, third week we spoke about being organised and having rights, we introduced the media in week4 we spoke about soaps and quizzes in week5, we spoke about the news in week 6, we used the internet in week 7, we made our own newspaper in week8, we done interviews and filming in week 9 and week10 was part 2 of the interviews and filming.

The new team

The new team have been together for 7 weeks now and are really getting on well with each other. Last week Zoe ran the group training with Rob's help, she did really well. Next week Lynne will have her turn. We might even get Rob doing it!
Tomorrow we have some visitors from "We share stuff" they are going to show us how to get the best from the internet.

Recruitment Day

We had a recruitment day on the 19th of August it went really i thought, we recruited some people with learning disabilities to be in our media team. Some of the games went really well, i was on the registration desk with Nick one of our old media team and Rachel who is a nurse for people with learning disabilities. I will tell you more when you all reply.

Recruitment day

We had our Recruitment day for a new Media team it was good as we recruited 6 new team members and possibly another two. We had a very good day everyone enjoyed themselves and they went away happy. I would like to thank all the staff who helped out on the day.

Leading my first Media group

Zoe said...
I led my first Media team meeting i was very excited about taking control of the team meeting and running it. I have also done cover at the drop in for a day its not normally my job but i enjoyed doing it.We are doing a recruitment day at the drop in for the new media team on the 19th August 2008 if you need more information you can ring us on 02476559995. Zoe
August 11, 2008 11:30 AM

Louise's story

Having Down's syndrome is a hateful condition because I do not like my size, my weight or my looks.

Some people stare at me when I go out on my own. Sometime I get people asking me how old I am and when I tell them they don't believe me. I also find it hard to express my feelings and thoughts to other people when in turn they aren't prepared to listen to me. They nearly always speak over me which leaves me frustrated and angry that I can't get my views across.

I feel that I have a full life and have achieved a lot. My best achievement was getting a distinction in my history OCT Certificate Achievement Award. The certificate and prize were presented by HRH Duke of Edinburgh at a ceremony in London.

I enjoy reading Harry Potter books and could tell you the story by heart. I go to the cinema sometimes; some of the films like Harry Potter are good, although there are some I'm not so fond of. I also like going out with friends around Coventry and going for pub, Indian and Chinese meals.

I attend the Grapevine drop in centre where I have joined the Healthy Living Team. They go to hospitals and do presentations on how to have a healthy lifestyle.

I also do DJing. I have done scratching, beating and cross fading and made a CD of different songs. I am part of D:Vine a group that runs monthly club nights at Taylor John's in the canal basin. I play pop music which makes people want to dance. My DJ name is DJ Wizard, because I put on wizard music.

I have been a dancer since I was eight years old. I have danced for my grade work and really enjoy it. Every year we put on a show and I like practising for the shows. This year I did a tap number to 'Puttin on the Ritz'. A ballet number for 'Nobody does it better' Goldfinger from James Bond and 'One' from a Chorus Line. It was a difficult dance to learn and at the end of the final performance my dance teacher congratulated me on how well I did. My sister Alice cried when she saw me doing the dress rehearsal because she had never seen me dance before. She was always in the performance dancing on the opposite side to me. She said I did it perfectly and kept in time with everyone.

I have lots of good friends and family who like to look after me and help me do things that I'm not so good at. I make everyone laugh when I say funny things. My laugh is always a happy laugh, which makes people want to smile.

Positive images campaign

I'm starting this blog with an apology, sorry we haven't updated for a while. We were very busy with learning disability week, then I was on annual leave and now I have my arm in a sling as I have cracked my elbow. There enough excuses let's tell you how learning disability week went:
Paul got his dream of hosting his own radio show on Hillz FM. During June and early July HillzFM had an FM licence to broadcast live alongside their Internet broadcasts, Paul was given a weekly one hour show, so well done DJ HObbow. Lisa and Rosie were invited onto Hillz FM as guests (June 16th) to talk about learning disability week. They took along Denise for support and Adam a young man on work experience came along too.
As we said in an early posting we had expression walls around the city & in Nuneaton. On Tuesday 17th June the team were invited to launch the wall live on the Annie Otham show (BBC Coventry & Warwickshire.) Annie also interviewed 2 parents about their experiences. Mel & Donald gave fantastic interviews, talking about how it felt to find out your much wanted baby has Down Syndrome. They spoke about the highs and lows that their families have experienced since, and they spoke of their dreams for the future.(We are hoping to get a snap of this posted on this site and Grapevine's website).
Later the same day Paul, Alex, Denise & Adam went back to the BBC to do a live interview about the photography competition. " days after that we had some of the young people from the WATS project live on the breakfast show talking about their lives. We were very pleased to get so many radio interviews in one week.
During learning Disability week we were also featured twice in the Coventry telegraph and on the city council's news page. Couple of the stories were about the photography competition but the most exciting story was written by Louise O'Farrell about her life as a young person with Down's Syndrome (see the separate blog to read her story).

My Day At The BBC- Alex

I Had A Wonderful Day At The BBC I Met Rosie From BBC She Told Us About What Goes On At The BBC Which Was Fantastic To know. What I Enjoyed The Most About Going On The Computers Learning About The Coventry And Warwickshire Website And Doing The Radio Show With Andrew And Rosie.

Our day at the BBC

We had a talk on what they do at the bbc . Rosie said anyone can come in off the street to have a look round and use the computers
Then we went on the computers with Hannah.
Then we had a talk from the editor, Tim, Who told us that he gets about 500 e-mails a day. He said he went through all the e- mails and picked out the ones that caught his attention.
Then we went into the studio to do a mock internview with Andrew.
Paul and Alex asked the questions and Rose and Lisa answered them.

Rosie & Lisa

I have my own radio show now!

Do you remember when told a few months ago “My dream is to have my own radio show one day” Well, my dream came true. This week I had my 1st show on Hillz FM, a community radio in Coventry. My show was an hour and I played songs and did a bit of chat. I was very nervous when I started, proper shaking, by the end of the show I was fine. It was a good laugh and great fun.
My show will be on every Wednesday from 11am until 12pm. You can listen on the internet www.thehillz.net or 102.6FM. You should be able to pick it up anywhere in Coventry or the local area. I will let you know how it goes because I have some plans for future shows
D.J. Hobbow

Judging the photo competition

The photo competition for this year has finished. I was proud to be one of the Judges. Judging the photos was a difficult task, because there were a lot of good photos to judge. I enjoyed the judging because it was new for me. The Major of Coventry is going to give the awards for competition in the Council House on Tuesday 17th June at 12pm. I will be happy if I can judge for the next photo competition because a really have enjoyed it.
You can see the photos from the competition on this link...
Or you can see my photos here...

Peter

photography competition

Sorry we haven't put anything here for a while but things are very busy in the media office. We are preparing for our 1st big campaign to run during learning disability week starting on 16th June.
Denise, Lynne, Zoe & Peter have held a photography competition for people with learning disabilities living in Coventry or Warwickshire. The competition closed last Friday and we had 91 entries!!!
Peter was joined by James, Rob and Ellen to judge the entries on Monday and after a couple of hours they managed to pick the winners, but it was very hard - the photos were very very good.
We have put all the pictures on a website so please do have a look, and tells us what you think: www.flickr.com/photos/grapevinecomp2008 and see the winners.
We are going to have a show of the pictures at the Council House in Coventry from 16th -30th June and the Lord Mayor is presenting the trophies on the 17thJune.
But that's not all we have got happening over the next few weeks, so why not visit us again to find out more...

Lynne at the BEEB

I was working at the BBC Coventry and Warwickshire Radio Station for 10 days which was my work placement, I really enjoyed it. On the first week I was working on the CSV action desk which was a busy week, I did things like answering answering and making telephone calls photocopying and stapling important papers together also I went to visit a project. The second week I was working with the local radio presenter who is called Bob Brolly and his producer Sarah that was entertaining and he came up with a nickname for me, through the week I got to meet a few celebrities including Blake who are a operatic group. I will tell you a bit more later on.

zoes blog

hi I'm Zoe, i am one of media project workers. i like learning about the media and i hope that can change people minds about learning disability, i will tell you more about my job soon.

Volunteer's blog space

hi i have been lazy too. Same as Oggy

rob

Photographer Peter

I have a placement at Coventry University, I work with the Photographer Graham some Fridays, when he has got work for me. I have taken photographs of buildings in Gosford St. the flight simulator, people in the gym and food. I got to eat the food after we had finished. I went to the Focus on Imaging exhibition in Birmingham, it was good and I learnt about different things, what to buy and how people use pictures in different ways, framing and taking photos of models.
I am going to judge our photography competition with Graham and some of my work will be shown as well. I will tell you more later!!

Rosie say's Hi!

on Wednesday i went to friend in Exhall
to see friend and family we had good time.
and watch the tv and clubland and watch big brother
as well
.
what have you being doing

rosemary

Suryabala Speaks

I am on the Learning Disability Partnership Board in Coventry. I get chance to tell people what I think and they listen to me. We talk about transport, jobs, houses for people and I have given a talk about Valuing People. We listen to visitors. It is important to me to have people listen to what I say.

Happy Birthday to us!

Yesterday was the 1st birthday of the Uncover media project- no that's not an April Fool Joke. There are now 2 media teams one in Coventry and one in Nuneaton. During the summer we will be looking for some new recruits for another team to be based in Coventry. Let us know if you are intereseted in joining the team.

photography competition

If you live in Coventry or Warwickshire and have a learning disability why not enter our photography competition? You can enter up to 3 pictures, they need to be at least 20cm x 25cm and can be in any of the following groups:
My home town, my friends or family, my job, my life or wildlife.
The closing date is 30th May and we will be having a public exhibition of all the pictures sent to us. If you are interested let us know and we can send you the enter form. Go on give it a go!

Adrian the Jokes

My name is Adrian. I like reading the Sun newspaper because I like the page 3 girls. I watch Japanese cartoons like Manga and Bleach. Here’s some jokes for you:
Why did the Eskimo eat a candle? He wanted a light lunch!
What football team eat ice-cream? Aston Vanilla!
What do you call a woman balancing a pint on her head and playing pool? Beatrix potter! Boom Boom.

Jo's blog

My name is Jo. I collect pandas. I have cuddly ones, cups, books, a calendar and a video. I would like to go to China to see them in the wild. I would like to work as a keeper in a zoo, looking after the pandas. I also like going horse riding. I do this on Saturdays.

David H's Joke blog

My name is David I like telling jokes. Here is one for you:
A man went into a pet shop and asked if they had any unusual birds. The pet shop owner said “we have got a parrot or a macaw”. No thanks said the man and went to leave. “Wait" said the owner; "I have got a Hoochi Coochi bird”. “What do they do” asked the man. The man got the bird out and a piece of metal. He said “Hoochi Coochi bird my metal” the bird drilled through the metal. He got a piece of bamboo out and said” Hoochi Coochi bird my bamboo” the bird drilled through the bamboo. “Brilliant” said the man "I will take it". “Just one thing “said the owner “You must say my”. The man took the bird home and got his mates round to show off. He got the bird out and a piece of metal he said “Hoochi Coochi bird metal". The bird did nothing. He said again “Hoochi Coochi Bird metal” the bird did nothing. His mates laughed and one said “Hoochi Coochi Bird my foot” The bird drilled straight through his foot.” Here’s another one

What football team wears no pants? Arsenal!
More jokes from me later.

Leslie's blog

My name is Leslie. I like animals and people who speak in different languages. I would like to learn Gallic or French. I could then go to France for a holiday. Here is a joke for you:
A man went into a pub and said do you sell helicopter crisps? The landlord said sorry we only sell planes.
And another:
Did you hear about the fight between the battery and the firework? The battery got charged and the firework got let off.

Sarah and her swimming

My name is Sarah; I am a swimmer in a Special Olympics team. My favourite strokes are backstroke and butterfly. I won a gold medal for butterfly. I support Liverpool and think they will win the Champion's League cup this year. I am also into Beatrix Potter I have all the books, a DVD and some videos.

David's Blog

On Fridays I go to the pub and sometime I play darts. I would like to be in a team. I like watching Rugby and was glad that Wales won the 6 nations.

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We have some new team members

We have recruited some new people to our team. They are from Warwickshire and soon be adding their blogs here. Watch this space.

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are there enough people with learning disabilities on TV?

Do you think there are enough people with learning disabilities on the TV in films, soaps, comedies or dramas? Tell us what you think by doing our quick survey.

nicks blog

i like to use the Internet and to look at the guitars. the guitars make a good sound. i am playing a guitar at home. guns and roses are my favourite. TV programs that i like most are man united football matches.

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If you want to talk to us just click where it says comment and a box will open you you to leave your message. It's as easy as that!

Alex' football blog

Hi I'm Alex

I like Leicester city football club. I try to go to every Home match with my mum. We have got season tickets. Most of the time it's funny to go, but sometimes it's not because we lose. Sometimes my mum takes me to Lynn's café before the match to have burger and chips and sometimes my Dad comes too, so he can go running or go into Town.

Lynne's blog

I lived in Coventry for 8 years and I lived with my sister for a year, things didn’t work out with my sister and I am living with a very good friend of mine. I went to college and became a chef.
I started to go to karaoke with friends and I became friends with a really nice man. In 2003 I became a member of Grapevine and my friend goes there too. Grapevine is a drop in centre for people with learning disabilities. Being a part of Grapevine has built my social life tremendously. There is a social club called Inside Out and we go to pubs and clubs etc. I was a member at Grapevine for 4 years and made a lot of friends there. I found out that there was a job going -which I got!
I will tell you all about my job next time.

DJ Hobbow

Hi!
My name is DJ Hobbow. I am part media team and D:vine project. I like computer games and specially Xbox 360. I have been on the radio in Coventry I had my own radio show. My friend Darren from D:vine help me to set up the show. My dream is to have my own radio show one day.

rosie

My name is Rosemary!
All my friends call me Rosie and I don’t mind.
I am member of the media team and I like the people there.
They all are my friends and we doing different and fun things every time.
I know more about the media now than before. I also like animals. I am animal lover. I love my dog Georgia. Sometimes she can be bit naughty. My friend James left the door open the dog chased a squirrel into the house. The squirrel hide behind the radiator. Georgia was barking like mad. My step dad put pair of gloves and rescued the squirrel. I can tell you a lot of stories about Georgia, but next time.

deeann media coverage

Hi!
My name is Dee-Ann I am taking part in a media project at Grapevine. There is not only me in the group there are other 15 members willing to learn what the media is. We have already learnt quite a lot about different media and how to use media to present ourselves and our lives in the public. Some of the ways to contact each other are emails or blogs. They help you contact each other and say what days our meetings are and where they are held at. The best bit is sharing your stories and your thoughts with your friends. I could use photos to show what I have been doing and then put them under my stories. That’s all by now. Next time im going to tell you about my friends. Who are they? What are we doing in the Media project?

Chattervine

This is a blog for people with learning disabilities to talk about their lives. You can talk about jobs, things that interest or make you cross. We want to hear if you think other people treat you with respect and what your life is really like.
If you want to have a rant about anything, that is OK. Please keep it polite and don't get personal about anyone. We want this blog to be somewhere that people can talk to each other respectfully. Sometimes people will have different ideas to you, that doesn't mean that they are wrong and you right. It just means we think about things in different ways, we think that is good.
We think it is OK to get someone to help you send us messages, and it doesn't matter if you only send a short message. We just want to hear from you.
This blog is run by 6 members of the Uncover Media Team. We are based at Grapevine, in Coventry. The project gets money from The Big Lottery Fund. We are trying to change the way the media- TV, radio, newspapers and the Internet shows people with learning disabilities. We want to get people to treat us with more respect.
Over the next few weeks we will tell you a bit about ourselves and what the project does. We don't see each other everyday so it might take a few days to get back to you. Please don't let that put you off.