Emma D
@emmadimps.bsky.social
Likely to post about: learning disability, epilepsy, caring, lived experience in research, rural life, the menagerie, and cocktails.
Pinned
Emma D
@emmadimps.bsky.social
· Nov 29
While I figure things out, here’s a kind of holding post.
My (now adult) kids are out the other side of the statutory Education system - a door I’m delighted to shut.
Recently stepped into the world of the rare epilepsies and all that entails.
Still ranty and sweary and living on a farm.
My (now adult) kids are out the other side of the statutory Education system - a door I’m delighted to shut.
Recently stepped into the world of the rare epilepsies and all that entails.
Still ranty and sweary and living on a farm.
Reposted by Emma D
Thread. It is a great honour to announce the shortlist for the 2025 #Curae prize for unpaid carers
POETRY CATEGORY
Mistletoe. Sam Garvan
Diagnosis. Elizabeth Loudon
Sinkhole. Charlotte Ansell
I Love Him (like salt and water). Emma Wilson
The Shop at the End of a Wave. Ia Kozoboli.
thecuraeprize.uk
POETRY CATEGORY
Mistletoe. Sam Garvan
Diagnosis. Elizabeth Loudon
Sinkhole. Charlotte Ansell
I Love Him (like salt and water). Emma Wilson
The Shop at the End of a Wave. Ia Kozoboli.
thecuraeprize.uk
May 1, 2025 at 11:03 AM
Thread. It is a great honour to announce the shortlist for the 2025 #Curae prize for unpaid carers
POETRY CATEGORY
Mistletoe. Sam Garvan
Diagnosis. Elizabeth Loudon
Sinkhole. Charlotte Ansell
I Love Him (like salt and water). Emma Wilson
The Shop at the End of a Wave. Ia Kozoboli.
thecuraeprize.uk
POETRY CATEGORY
Mistletoe. Sam Garvan
Diagnosis. Elizabeth Loudon
Sinkhole. Charlotte Ansell
I Love Him (like salt and water). Emma Wilson
The Shop at the End of a Wave. Ia Kozoboli.
thecuraeprize.uk
“But talking about my daughter feels like the most important thing I can do. She mattered because she was here and she was exceptional.”
What a beautiful and heartbreaking and important piece of writing this is.
What a beautiful and heartbreaking and important piece of writing this is.
NEW POST: Empty spaces & unwanted freedom: The end of caring. @catrionamoore.bsky.social wrote in March of the death of her daughter, Amy, who had #RettSyndrome. Today, she explains the aftermath of loss when your life has been structured around their care www.specialneedsjungle.com/e...
April 30, 2025 at 6:58 AM
“But talking about my daughter feels like the most important thing I can do. She mattered because she was here and she was exceptional.”
What a beautiful and heartbreaking and important piece of writing this is.
What a beautiful and heartbreaking and important piece of writing this is.
Reposted by Emma D
This is a new image from #JWST.
The bright points with spikes are stars in the Milky Way.
Everything else is a galaxy.
Everything. Else. Is. A. Galaxy.
The bright points with spikes are stars in the Milky Way.
Everything else is a galaxy.
Everything. Else. Is. A. Galaxy.
April 29, 2025 at 6:47 PM
This is a new image from #JWST.
The bright points with spikes are stars in the Milky Way.
Everything else is a galaxy.
Everything. Else. Is. A. Galaxy.
The bright points with spikes are stars in the Milky Way.
Everything else is a galaxy.
Everything. Else. Is. A. Galaxy.
Reposted by Emma D
🧵 I want to tell you why I think this is one of the most important prizes running and I’m sorry that the book press and mainstream publishing hasn’t dived on it with bells on and support …
I confirmed the 2025 #Curae prize shortlist just now. Emotional? Me?
Shortlist announced at 12 on 1st of May across socials and I will have let winners know just before. We can be in touch throughout the day.
Life can be so hard; so sad, but community, love, creativity - those are golden.
Shortlist announced at 12 on 1st of May across socials and I will have let winners know just before. We can be in touch throughout the day.
Life can be so hard; so sad, but community, love, creativity - those are golden.
April 27, 2025 at 6:52 AM
🧵 I want to tell you why I think this is one of the most important prizes running and I’m sorry that the book press and mainstream publishing hasn’t dived on it with bells on and support …
Reposted by Emma D
"This book is both heartrending and gorgeous. It crosses the line many times but, ultimately, it’s about love. He teaches us humanity."
Miriam Margolyes
Published June 5th, available for preorder now.
Miriam Margolyes
Published June 5th, available for preorder now.
April 18, 2025 at 10:13 AM
"This book is both heartrending and gorgeous. It crosses the line many times but, ultimately, it’s about love. He teaches us humanity."
Miriam Margolyes
Published June 5th, available for preorder now.
Miriam Margolyes
Published June 5th, available for preorder now.
Reposted by Emma D
On SNJ Today: Our post today remembers “fierce, funny and fabulous” Amy Reyes, the daughter of our columnist, @catrionamoore.bsky.social & @edreyesjourno.bsky.social whose funeral was today. You can donate to Amy’s hospice #DemelzaCharity at the link in the post.
www.specialneedsjungle.com/r...
www.specialneedsjungle.com/r...
March 24, 2025 at 7:25 PM
On SNJ Today: Our post today remembers “fierce, funny and fabulous” Amy Reyes, the daughter of our columnist, @catrionamoore.bsky.social & @edreyesjourno.bsky.social whose funeral was today. You can donate to Amy’s hospice #DemelzaCharity at the link in the post.
www.specialneedsjungle.com/r...
www.specialneedsjungle.com/r...
It’s a very easy to use and well composed template. Collective action is all we have right now folks 💜
If you want to write to your Labour MP about disability benefit cuts but have limited spoons, here’s a template from @sensecharity.bsky.social you can use:
t.co/E8QB6EDi9o
Public backlash *does* work at times so let’s keep the pressure up. You too, non-disabled allies!
t.co/E8QB6EDi9o
Public backlash *does* work at times so let’s keep the pressure up. You too, non-disabled allies!
https://action.sense.org.uk/page/167765/action/1?ea.tracking.id=twt-org
t.co
March 20, 2025 at 8:37 AM
It’s a very easy to use and well composed template. Collective action is all we have right now folks 💜
Chilli germinating season is upon us 🌶️ 😁
March 17, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Chilli germinating season is upon us 🌶️ 😁
Reposted by Emma D
Every journo who bangs on about the ease of falsely obtaining PIP: go on then.
March 11, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Every journo who bangs on about the ease of falsely obtaining PIP: go on then.
Reposted by Emma D
In preparation for ‘I Open My Own Front Door, Do You?’ launched today, I asked people to share what ‘front door’ means to them. The blog is about what people told me - beautiful, heartfelt, thoughtful quotes.
www.gloriouslyordinarylives.co.uk/gloriously-o...
@learningdiseng.bsky.social
www.gloriouslyordinarylives.co.uk/gloriously-o...
@learningdiseng.bsky.social
Gloriously Ordinary Sundays - 2nd March 2025 — Gloriously Ordinary Lives
In preparation for our campaign this week, ‘I Open My Own Front Door, Do You?’ I asked friends, colleagues, and family to share what ‘front door’ as a concept means to them. The majority of this blo...
www.gloriouslyordinarylives.co.uk
March 3, 2025 at 12:21 PM
In preparation for ‘I Open My Own Front Door, Do You?’ launched today, I asked people to share what ‘front door’ means to them. The blog is about what people told me - beautiful, heartfelt, thoughtful quotes.
www.gloriouslyordinarylives.co.uk/gloriously-o...
@learningdiseng.bsky.social
www.gloriouslyordinarylives.co.uk/gloriously-o...
@learningdiseng.bsky.social
Reposted by Emma D
For #RareDiseaseDay, here's a series of posts I wrote a while ago about how #FragileX Syndrome affects our family.
#FragileX is a chromosomal abnormality & is the most common form of inherited learning disability. It's called Fragile X as the end of the chromosome looks like it's about to drop off.
#FragileX is a chromosomal abnormality & is the most common form of inherited learning disability. It's called Fragile X as the end of the chromosome looks like it's about to drop off.
February 28, 2025 at 10:43 AM
For #RareDiseaseDay, here's a series of posts I wrote a while ago about how #FragileX Syndrome affects our family.
#FragileX is a chromosomal abnormality & is the most common form of inherited learning disability. It's called Fragile X as the end of the chromosome looks like it's about to drop off.
#FragileX is a chromosomal abnormality & is the most common form of inherited learning disability. It's called Fragile X as the end of the chromosome looks like it's about to drop off.
Reposted by Emma D
Such cruelty at the hands of the system #carers www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Mother had carer’s allowance stopped while with disabled daughter in hospital
Rachel Adam-Smith says stopping benefits when loved ones are in hospital fails to recognise carers’ ongoing role
www.theguardian.com
February 27, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Such cruelty at the hands of the system #carers www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
As well as showing deep systemic failures, this piece is so devastating and terrifying to me as the parent and full time carer for an adult child with epilepsy.
The sheer lack of understanding outside of specialist services is truly unacceptable.
What a heartbreaking and needless loss of life.
The sheer lack of understanding outside of specialist services is truly unacceptable.
What a heartbreaking and needless loss of life.
My brother, the NHS and the inquest into a needless death
https://www.ft.com/content/f94a71ee-0c42-4839-9521-e7866975fa72
https://www.ft.com/content/f94a71ee-0c42-4839-9521-e7866975fa72
My brother, the NHS and the inquest into a needless death
My brother spent the last hours of his life trying in vain to get basic help from the NHS. Why?
www.ft.com
February 22, 2025 at 10:30 AM
As well as showing deep systemic failures, this piece is so devastating and terrifying to me as the parent and full time carer for an adult child with epilepsy.
The sheer lack of understanding outside of specialist services is truly unacceptable.
What a heartbreaking and needless loss of life.
The sheer lack of understanding outside of specialist services is truly unacceptable.
What a heartbreaking and needless loss of life.
I have many pieces of @beckyrwhin.bsky.social beautiful artwork and would encourage everyone to take a look through her back catalogue as she captures the essence of things in a remarkable way.
Ok folks, I have been trying to post vids on here and failed so I've shifted them to You Tube.
Here is Sketchbook 6.
I'm on a mission to sell as much of my back catalogue as possible to help fund our complex move home from hospital. I will add the missing sketchbooks
youtu.be/DN4AlIPPovM?...
Here is Sketchbook 6.
I'm on a mission to sell as much of my back catalogue as possible to help fund our complex move home from hospital. I will add the missing sketchbooks
youtu.be/DN4AlIPPovM?...
Sketchbook 6
YouTube video by BexGoneWest
youtu.be
February 16, 2025 at 9:33 AM
I have many pieces of @beckyrwhin.bsky.social beautiful artwork and would encourage everyone to take a look through her back catalogue as she captures the essence of things in a remarkable way.
Meet Blossom and his harem: Blossom is the giant and flamboyant cockerel, named by my mum when still an unhatched egg in our incubator (it’s a tradition). Honestly, the most inappropriate name for that brute, but here we are.
February 15, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Meet Blossom and his harem: Blossom is the giant and flamboyant cockerel, named by my mum when still an unhatched egg in our incubator (it’s a tradition). Honestly, the most inappropriate name for that brute, but here we are.
Reposted by Emma D
#curae - It matters. It REALLY matters. Shining a light changes lives and makes community - no not me; the brilliant people who enter do all that - and it is the ONLY national initiative for unpaid carers in this area. It’s also unfunded by Arts organisations. Still. Two weeks left to enter! 💙📚
So please talk about it. Share the site link, tell people it's free to enter and all they need is on the site, along with the entry criteria - the definition of the unpaid carer role. thecuraeprize.uk Be part of it, offer to add to the bursaries, but mainly spread the word. #Curae
The Curae Prize
A writing prize - just for writers who are also carers
thecuraeprize.uk
February 15, 2025 at 7:12 PM
#curae - It matters. It REALLY matters. Shining a light changes lives and makes community - no not me; the brilliant people who enter do all that - and it is the ONLY national initiative for unpaid carers in this area. It’s also unfunded by Arts organisations. Still. Two weeks left to enter! 💙📚
Reposted by Emma D
Make no mistake, the detention of people with learning disabilities in secure hospitals is a HR issue.
There will be more claims and settlements. www.doughtystreet.co.uk/news/justice...
There will be more claims and settlements. www.doughtystreet.co.uk/news/justice...
Justice for AP: Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust pays damages following detention and seclusion of man with learning disabilities and autism for 340 days
The High Court has approved the settlement of a civil claim brought by Bindmans client ‘AP’, by which Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust will pay significant damages for the detention and treatment
www.doughtystreet.co.uk
February 14, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Make no mistake, the detention of people with learning disabilities in secure hospitals is a HR issue.
There will be more claims and settlements. www.doughtystreet.co.uk/news/justice...
There will be more claims and settlements. www.doughtystreet.co.uk/news/justice...
Reposted by Emma D
This makes for a difficult listen but is so important, the brilliant @ellychapple.bsky.social and myself on The Skies We're Under podcast talking about Ella's human rights claim and the impact of unlawful care proceedings on their family open.spotify.com/episode/2rRf...
Entering the Gladiator Ring with Elly Chapple and George Julian | S4 | E22
The Skies We’re Under · Episode
open.spotify.com
February 5, 2025 at 6:33 PM
This makes for a difficult listen but is so important, the brilliant @ellychapple.bsky.social and myself on The Skies We're Under podcast talking about Ella's human rights claim and the impact of unlawful care proceedings on their family open.spotify.com/episode/2rRf...
Reposted by Emma D
So it’s Feeding Tube Awareness Week - an opportunity to shed light on a topic that is personal to me. My children are tube fed and there are many misconceptions about it. Please read my eldest’s perspective. helen2tubies.wordpress.com/2022/10/29/a...
A Decade of Tube Feeding
2012 …………………………………………..2022 On 31st Oct 2012 I had my first NG tube put in by my nurse, this was just the beginning of my bumpy, un…
helen2tubies.wordpress.com
February 2, 2025 at 8:45 AM
So it’s Feeding Tube Awareness Week - an opportunity to shed light on a topic that is personal to me. My children are tube fed and there are many misconceptions about it. Please read my eldest’s perspective. helen2tubies.wordpress.com/2022/10/29/a...
Reposted by Emma D
It's not easy being in Government right......
January 30, 2025 at 10:41 PM
It's not easy being in Government right......
Reposted by Emma D
Very brilliant that @cmic-uk.bsky.social just got the go ahead to create a training microbrewery for adults with learning disabilities, so here's a reminder of @beckyrwhin.bsky.social's words in @communitylivingmagazine.com a year ago.
#LearningDisability
communitylivingmagazine.com/there-was-a-...
#LearningDisability
communitylivingmagazine.com/there-was-a-...
‘There was a real hunger to learn and absorption in work’
Brewery veteran Becky Whinnerah and her husband John founded a collective to support employment with brewing experience, Saba Salman reports
communitylivingmagazine.com
January 30, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Very brilliant that @cmic-uk.bsky.social just got the go ahead to create a training microbrewery for adults with learning disabilities, so here's a reminder of @beckyrwhin.bsky.social's words in @communitylivingmagazine.com a year ago.
#LearningDisability
communitylivingmagazine.com/there-was-a-...
#LearningDisability
communitylivingmagazine.com/there-was-a-...
I am a massive supporter of Count Me In Collective @cmic-uk.bsky.social - and this is fantastic news! Cant wait to sample that first beer! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
'Life-changing' brewery in Reading given the go-ahead
The project aims to provide training for adults with disabilities and neurodivergence.
www.bbc.co.uk
January 28, 2025 at 5:19 PM
I am a massive supporter of Count Me In Collective @cmic-uk.bsky.social - and this is fantastic news! Cant wait to sample that first beer! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Emma D
📢Launched today: The Gender Pain Gap consultation on Pain in Sexual & Reproductive Health Procedures (UK).
Aim: To understand experiences, priorities & views of people with experience of painful procedures.
openeducation.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
Open to 31 Jan. Please share widely!
Aim: To understand experiences, priorities & views of people with experience of painful procedures.
openeducation.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
Open to 31 Jan. Please share widely!
January 16, 2025 at 1:31 PM
📢Launched today: The Gender Pain Gap consultation on Pain in Sexual & Reproductive Health Procedures (UK).
Aim: To understand experiences, priorities & views of people with experience of painful procedures.
openeducation.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
Open to 31 Jan. Please share widely!
Aim: To understand experiences, priorities & views of people with experience of painful procedures.
openeducation.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
Open to 31 Jan. Please share widely!
Reposted by Emma D
NEW POST: The Commons Public Accounts Committee #SEND report warns of a "lost generation" of children. But SNJ's @captaink77.bsky.social finds warnings all a bit pointless when decision-makers don’t know what they value more—money or children’s futures... www.specialneedsjungle.com/p...
January 15, 2025 at 6:02 AM
NEW POST: The Commons Public Accounts Committee #SEND report warns of a "lost generation" of children. But SNJ's @captaink77.bsky.social finds warnings all a bit pointless when decision-makers don’t know what they value more—money or children’s futures... www.specialneedsjungle.com/p...