Magherafelt residents part of pilot for first climate training people with a learning disability

Two men from Magherafelt are among the first people with a learning disability to have completed training which aims to encourage them to take meaningful climate action.

Positive Futures and Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful's “Caring for our World”, is a partnership delivering free, accessible climate training to organisations supporting people with a learning disability.

The training takes a two-step approach, first educating and certifying staff who, once trained, then use the flexible resources provided to educate and certify the people with a learning disability they support, empowering them to take meaningful climate action.

Among the first people to take on the training was Patrick Coney and Rodney Johnston from the Magherafelt Supported Living service.

This is the first climate change programme for people with a learning disability to be developed in Northern Ireland. The resources are flexible and inclusive and can be easily adapted to deliver full workshops or one-to-one sessions for those with complex needs.

This project is funded through the carrier bag levy by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), supporting climate education and sustainability initiatives across Northern Ireland.

DAERA Minister Andrew Muir MLA said: “I want to congratulate everyone involved today from Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful and Positive Futures who have worked together to develop these important training resources. I’m delighted that though the Carrier Bag Levy, my Department has been able to support the development of Caring for our World. We know that when climate information is made clear, engaging, relevant and accessible it empowers everyone to participate fully in both the conversation and with positive action.  These resources will help to ensure that people with additional learning needs also have the tools to help bring about meaningful climate action in their communities.”

Eric Randall, Chief Executive, Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, stated: “We are delighted to partner with Positive Futures in delivering this truly groundbreaking approach to climate training. Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful has always promoted climate action to as many groups as possible and, more importantly, removing the barriers that some parts of our community might face in accessing this vital information. Caring for our World will ensure that climate action resources are accessible to all in our society. There should be no barriers for those who want to take positive steps to combat the climate emergency”

Dr Agnes Lunny, Chief Executive, Positive Futures, added: “As part of our Positive Green strategy for our organisation, we have been educating our staff on sustainability issues, particularly climate.  We wanted this training to be inclusive of the people we support and the wider learning disabilities community. Caring for our World empowers staff and people with learning disabilities to take meaningful climate action with confidence.  Importantly, it gives people context and rationale for their actions - many of which they may already be doing without realising just how impactful small, everyday behaviours can be in countering climate change.”

Speaking after the training, Patrick Coney said: “When we spoke to our housemate about food waste, he wanted to help. He had a good idea of cutting up leftover vegetables in fridge and freezing them. He now does this on a regular basis. These changes are important as we are saving money and not wasting food.”

Rodney Johnston added: “Our car is now hybrid. The car is not used as often and it makes the air fresher.

“The best things we did as part of the programme was make small changes in our home. We now use reusable bags for grocery shopping. We have a small brown bin which we keep in the kitchen for our food waste.”

On completion of the training, the Magherafelt men have created their own video which can be viewed here

Organisations can register now by visiting keepnorthernirelandbeautiful.org