Promoting full and active social lives for people with learning disabilities.

Stay Up Late was started following the experiences of the punk band 'Heavy Load', who feature musicians with and without learning disabilities. Spurred on by the frustration of seeing fans leave gigs early due to staff working inflexible shift patterns, we started off as an awareness raising campaign and featured in the documentary 'Heavy Load' (BBC and cinemas). This raised awareness across the UK - and the issue was widespread. Our purpose is to promote full and active social lives for all.

Why the community needs this charity

Many people with learning disabilities have told us that they want to lead fuller, more active social lives, experiencing the sorts of things that many people take for granted, but find this difficult. A community that fully involves all its members is stronger and enables us to make friends, form relationships and develop informal support networks. It also means that you are able to participate as a full and active member of your community, regardless of your disability.

Results and outcomes

Through our work, we have been able to: - Give people with learning disabilities a voice and know their rights: that they are entitled to say how they want to live their lives. - Develop a quality testing tool which enables people with learning disabilities to assess the quality of the support they receive. - Raise awareness with service providers and staff across the UK (and beyond) to make them think about how they can change their practice - Stage our own events and club nights.

Latest activities and projects