Families of disabled children who attend After School Club, Youth Club, Holiday Play Schemes, Residential Holidays, Saturday Clubs and Overnight Breaks at West Berkshire Mencap do so out of sheer necessity. West Berkshire Mencap support the most complex and vulnerable of children who quite literally have no other respite options. These short breaks enable families to cope with day to day life and in most cases, enable them to spend quality time with their other children who are often overlooked due to the time. Parents must invest to meet the care requirements and demands of their disabled child. Parents also use these services to enable them to access social activities, maintain friendships and relationships, access further training or to have down time to recuperate so they can continue to care for their child at home.

Tower House is not just a day centre for us. This is where we've all grown very close friendships with each other and this will break up our friendship and harm our mental well being. There are no other services in the area like this for service users with so many complex needs. Some of us don't see any one in the week, so without our centre we would be totally isolated. Some of us are wheelchair bound and are being looked after by our partners or family. So coming to Tower House is a respite for our loved ones and a chance for us to be in a social environment. Some of us elderly, disabled from birth or disabled due to illness or injury. Please save our centre as this is a lifeline for us and we have nowhere else to go.

This is such an important service, providing respite and a safe and controlled environment for our young disabled children. Especially so for children with severe autism. These children do not have friends to hang out with, they don't have hobbies or clubs they can go to. Many of these children cannot go to the cinema or bowling, it is too distressing for them. The outreach team provide the most wonderful, caring staff to take these children out. They become their 'friends' their lifeline to anything outside of home and school life. The staff learn the needs of these children and cater to them. They take them out. Sometimes it may just be for a drive. My severely autistic son Merlin loves to look at tall buildings and structures. He loves to go for a drive to look at tall things at night. This makes him so happy. I don't drive. He loves to go to the outreach flat and cook. He loves to make play dough. He loves to watch old videos of old kids programmes. The outreach flat provides all this. He always asks me if he can go out with outreach every night. it is his home from home. His outreach workers Emma and Andrew are his 'best friends' They understand him completely. He has built up a relationship with them that no one else comes close too. His autism effects every aspect of his life. This service is his life without it he has nothing to look forward to. We cannot lose it.

I am very deaf and rely on subtitling to make sense of what I am seeing. Generally speaking my complaint is aimed at recorded programmes in which subtitles are sometimes so far out of synchronicity, or simply absent for such long periods, that action on screen is over long before the words appear. Many channels appear not to use subtitling at all. I usually cannot watch them.

The pressures faced by children and teenagers now are more harsh than ever. The pressure to succeed in a failing school system, the pressure to get the best GCSE and ALEVELS, family pressures, and children who have an intrinsic mental health concern, all these pressures have increased, and the support services that would enable a child to access support have not only stayed static, but in many cases have reduced in size. Last year 800 children aged 11 and under needed treatment in a and e for injuries caused by self harm, each week there is news of another teen suicide, or an autistic child that cannot receive access to a vital service, this needs to change, and fast, before a whole generation is lost. This vital service can no longer be a Cinderella service.

Mental health in the UK is in crisis. As it's seen as an invisible problem, cuts are being made across the country in the hopes that the public won't notice or care. But most people will experience, or will have a family member or friend experience, mental health problems - this is in fact an issue that touches us all. We need to fight for our vital services. We need to fight for Winterbourne Therapeutic Community. The Winterbourne therapeutic community (TC), a large part of the Berkshire Complex Needs Service, is due to end in November 2015. The TC has been operating for almost 50 years and is highly-respected among therapists who work with TCs. This is a therapeutic model that works by bringing people together, all of whom suffer with longstanding emotional problems, and turn them into a community. Members’ experiences include abuse, neglect, trauma, deprivation and loss, particularly early in life, which leads to an inability to take care of themselves and form healthy, sustained relationships with other people. The fact that members are able to form a community is a huge testament to the hard work of both the members and the therapists. Winterbourne TC offers its members therapy of 18 hours a week for 18 months. Every member joins knowing that TC offers no quick fix, but is extremely successful when hard work and commitment is applied. In today’s world of cuts and demands for immediate results, it’s no wonder that therapeutic communities are unpopular and at risk across the UK, despite their efficacy and cost-effectiveness in the long-term (http://www.scie-socialcareonline.org.uk/…/a1CG0000000GTAxMAO). TC can only operate with full openness, which is why it’s particularly disturbing that there has been a lack of this when communicating about the future of TC. Members, both current and former, were only informed about the imminent closure of TC this month, September, meaning we’ve had very little time to organise and get a campaign plan going. Ex-members were invited to a workshop regarding ongoing psychological services provided by Berkshire Healthcare NHS trust at the beginning of September. As there was no context, and it was held from 3.30pm til 5.00pm, people who were working didn’t attend, whereas they would have made special arrangements to have attended had the workshop’s purpose been clear. The official reason for the closure of Winterbourne TC, given by Cathy Saunders, a spokeswoman for the Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, is that the site has recently been deemed “unsuitable for use” (http://www.getreading.co.uk/…/patients-outrage-over-closure…), without further detail. There had been signs for some time that the TC was under threat for financial reasons: for a long period of time prospective members have been hard to find, despite the fact that previously TC was in such high demand that there was a waiting list. Additionally, this year the number of therapists in each ‘small group’ has decreased from 2 to 1. Small groups consist of up to 6 members of the community, where psychotherapy and discussion can take place in a more sustained, detailed way. Therapists are an integral part of the small groups, so this cut has been sorely felt. Winterbourne TC is incredibly special. It operates through a “living-learning” experience, which includes tasks like providing a meal for all members and therapists, teaching members how to get on with the ordinary business of living. For the incredibly hard process of leaving, a leavers’ group helps members think about life after TC, professionally and in terms of their own welfare. It also provides 24/7 support – outside of community hours, members telephone each other for support. Physical support, when telephone support just isn’t enough, can also be arranged, where members of a community come together to offer support and love during what can feel like the very darkest hours of all. This community has kept people alive. It has taught many people how to live, not just exist. This petition calls for this invaluable service to be kept open - it has been a literal lifeline to so many people. A member's story - Samuel: I would wake up every day and within seconds I’d be crushed by the disappointment that I was still here. Every hour I was conscious my time would be consumed either by unhealthy coping mechanisms or fantasies of suicide. I attempted suicide multiple times before the age of 22. Had I not been referred to Winterbourne Therapeutic Community in early 2014, I likely would be dead or dying by now. I am 24 years old. In September 2015, I completed my treatment in the Therapeutic Community and barely recognise the person I was when I started. During my time there I developed confidence, self awareness and a desire to live. I learned the skills required to leave my parents’ house and live independently. I made friends and made plans for a better life and made peace with my past and my decisions and my pain.

When the budget is announced carers are a forgotten race and don't get a mention. Carers save the government billions of pounds. A care firm I recently contacted charge £16 per hour to care for an elderly person in there own home - multiply that by 60 hours per week. I personally care for 3 family members I get £64 a week care allowance for over 60 hours. I was recently told that this money is classed as income. and taken into account. Im asking that every carer in the country to join me ,s o we can live with some dignity , we don't get shift pay ,time and a half and double time at weekends, we cant take the same holidays, we work when were ill.

Currently mental health issues are looked after by a junior Minister who is in charge of care in general. Mental Health issues need to be dealt with separately and the government needs to make sure that people get appropriate care.

Disabled Students Allowance makes University a more accessible experience and is a vital support mechanism for disabled students. These cuts will mean students will go through university without necessary support, and this could lead to higher dropout rates and lower educational attainment for these students. No additional funds have been announced to bridge the gap and the Government are out of touch in their belief that institutions will accept the new responsibilities placed upon them, leaving students unable to get the support they need in order to study. Many Plymouth University students are from widening participation backgrounds and it worries me the impact that these cuts are going to have here in Plymouth, let alone nationally. It is important that these students are able to access higher education and achieve their potential. However, these cuts will put their education in jeopardy. The UK prides itself on equal opportunities and yet these equal opportunities are being endangered in the name of austerity. The work done by previous governments to ensure access to education will have gone to waste, and students with disabilities will be at a serious disadvantage. Can we really pride ourselves on being a fair and forward thinking nation if those in need are not being given the support they require?

Aylan, the toddler who drowned fleeing Syria, was just three years old. His town was under attack by Isis. His five year old brother and his mum also died trying to reach safety. Yet our prime minister said ‘we won't take any more refugees’. He thinks that most of us don't care. But 38 Degrees members do care. We don't want Britain to be the kind of country that turns its back as people drown in their desperation to flee places like Syria. So let's stand up for Britain's long tradition of helping refugees fleeing war. Let's show the Prime Minister that we, the people of the UK, are proud to do our part and provide refuge to people in their hour of need. Please sign and share, or start your own petition for your town or city here: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/efforts/refugees-welcome

My disabled Brother has been waiting for well over a year to be re homed in a suitable property. He has multiple disabilities and has to have oxygen almost all the time. He has not been out of his small flat for over a year (except for emergencies) and despite being unable to walk more than a few feet before being exhausted, he remains housed in a third floor flat which is dirty and dangerous. My brother was born with multiple health problems and was not expected to live much beyond his forties. He is now 54, and his health is increasingly worse. The whole family is worried about his safety and he has few, if any visitors. One of his regular visitors, and oldest friends from schooldays, recently died from Cancer. So he is now even more isolated. He has had to have his bed moved in to his front room as it's too difficult for him to get to the bedroom. He cannot reach the bathroom in the night so has to urinate in bottles which he keeps by his bed. He has undergone many serious operations throughout his life and suffered more than most, from being bullied during our school days right through the emotional problems that his poor health has brought with it. Our Mum has had Parkinson's for over 25 years and has recently had to go in to a nursing home. She now has related dementia but nonetheless is constantly asking after my Brother and is always worried about his well being. Despite repeated conversations with Bexley housing service and their acknowledgement that my Brother should be treated as a priority on the grounds of his ill health, he is in the system with everyone else and has had no luck in his search for a property. He doesn't want much, just a ground floor flat, with disabled access so that, perhaps with the aid of a mobility scooter, he could once again be able to get out once in a while. Please sign my petition, I have already tried contacting his M.P. but this achieved nothing. Thanks to all who sign. Kind regards, Mark Walker

RNIB Scotland members all of whom are blind or partially sighted have had no say in this decision despite RNIB being "of" rather than "for" blind people and this strikes at the heart of our organisational democracy. Action for Blind People have no knowledge whatsoever of Scotland, have no presence in Scotland and we fear their takeover will put at risk the excellent services that RNIB Scotland already provide. We are also deeply concerned as blind and partially sighted people that our ability to influence decisions in Scotland will be diminished as it totally ignores the reality of devolution and the increasing focus on the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament as the place to find advantage for blind and partially sighted people in Scotland. We were not consulted. We were not asked. We say STOP! NOW!