Learning Disability Week 2025

Last week we celebrated Learning Disability Week at Nickel Support and our enterprises Beans and Bloom and Interestingly Different.

Learning Disability Week takes place in June every year, and is about making sure people with learning disabilities are seen, heard, included and valued. Also it’s a time to shine a spotlight on people with learning disabilities and celebrate everything that they are doing.

To raise awareness of the adults we work with (our trainees), we spent some time talking with people at pop-up shops in our local community. As well as getting to know us and our organisation a little better, customers could choose from a range of homeware items plus sample delicious jams and chutneys... all handmade carefully in our sessions at Nickel Support. We spent time in Westcroft Leisure Centre and at Wallington Music Festival to name just a couple of places. Thank you everyone for being so welcoming and supportive - every item purchased gave our trainees a chance to shine!

How can you help to support adults with a learning disability?

Interact on our socials

One way that you could help is to simply share our posts and reels on Instagram and Facebook. Follow Interestingly Different, Beans and Bloom and Nickel Support. Every like, comment and share makes a difference to us - the more interactions with our posts, the wider our audience becomes.

Talk about us to your friends 

If you buy something you like or you enjoy a coffee and cake in Beans and Bloom coffee shop, please tell everyone you know! The more people buy from our enterprises, the more opportunities we can give to our trainees.

Donate furniture to our shop Interestingly Different for our trainees to upcycle

All furniture in our upcycling sessions is kindly donated from our local community which we hugely appreciate. We can only accept high-quality, thick wooded furniture as this is more durable for sanding, painting and embellishing.

Buy in our online store Interestingly Different

Our shop, Interestingly Different, offers paid employment opportunities to adults with learning disabilities. The delicious jams and chutneys are handmade and the furniture we sell is upcycled by trainees in our Nickel Support sessions.

Visit our Coffee Shop, Beans and Bloom

Our coffee shop, based in Cheam's historic Whitehall boasts delicious coffee, freshly made cakes and pastries plus a beautifully tended garden. It’s the perfect place for a meet up with friends, for mums and buggies meetups (there's a lot of space in the peaceful garden) or to work from somewhere different for the day.

Can you think of any other ways that you can help? Please do let us know!