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April 2009 | Volume 12 | Number 318
The PasT few years have been hectic for punk-rock band heavy
Load. They have featured in an award-winning documentary
Heavy Load: A Film about Happiness, recorded their debut album
and kept up with a full tour schedule.
The Brighton-based band, which specialises in thrash covers of
late 1970s punk and punk versions of recent pop hits, has some
members who have a learning disability. Their repertoire includes
a cover of Kylie's Can't Get You Out of My Head and a frenetic
version of the Batman song.
With the film behind them, heavy Load are now focusing on
their stay Up Late campaign. The band started the campaign after
years of being fed up with people with a learning disability having to
leave their gigs early because their support staff's shifts finish early.
The campaign, which is supported by learning disability charity
Mencap, aims to make managers and support workers aware that
people with a learning disability want more control over their
lives and should be consulted when staff draw up rotas which
affect things such as how late they can stay out.
heavy Load drummer, Michael White, who has Down syndrome,
said: `everyone thinks people with a learning disability should stay
in and be quiet, but we're like everyone else and want to party too.'
Mencap's chief executive, Mark Goldring, said: `The stay Up
Late campaign is all about people with a learning disability having
choice and control over their lives.'
as well as raising awareness about the importance of flexible
support, Mencap and heavy Load are asking people to email their
local authority to make sure all services they commission offer
choice and control for people with a learning disability.
Lucy Hannagan is a senior press officer at Mencap
Fight for
the right
to party
Punk-rock band Heavy Load started
the Stay Up Late campaign so that their
fans could stay till the end of their gigs
MorganWhite
To get involved go to www.mencap.org.uk/stayuplate
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