Tired of Spinning Plates
Tired of Spinning Plates (2023-2025): An Exploration of the Mental Health Experiences of Adults and/or Older Carers of Adults with Learning Disabilities explored sibling and parent carer's’ experiences with social care systems in the UK. At the heart of the project was the Tea and Cake Co-Production Group, made up of people with learning disabilities and carers. The project was led by Katherine Runswick-Cole and Sara Ryan. Patty Douglas led the storytelling phase. Watch the videos below or at socialcaretalk.org
Funder information
National Institute of Health and Social Care Research (NIHR) Health and Social Care Delivery Research (HSDR) Project: NIHR135080.
To visit the Tired of Spinning Plates online exhibition click here.
Self Advocate Videos
People with learning disabilities came together with facilitators on the project and made digital stories about care, love and independence.
Anup is a self advocate and shares her story called ‘My Life, My Choice’.
Click here for transcript.
Louise is a self advocate and shares her experiences of caring for a pet in shared living accommodation.
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Stuart is a self advocate and shares his story of navigating unreliable support with his professional commitments and identity.
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Sibling Carer Videos
Sibling carers, parent carers came together over several months online 1-1 with facilitators on the project and made digital stories about care, love, worry and unjust care systems.
Kauser is a sibling carer for her brothers with learning disabilities. Kausar shares her experiences of being a sibling carer and the joy that her brothers bring to her life.
Click here for transcript.
Hello, I am Sophie, my older brother has Learning Disabilities, Autism and a rare neurological condition known as KIF1a.
This film focuses on my story growing up to early adulthood as a secondary carer for my brother. I tried to keep the story as positive as possible as it’s often hard to do so in day to day life.
Our futures as ‘sibs’ are unpredictable, but I hope that others can relate to my story and find comfort in knowing that they are not alone.
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Emily is a sibling carer. Emily shares her experiences of caring and thoughts for the future.
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Anne’s film made with the help of The Tired of Spinning Plates research team attempts to describe how she tried to support my brother through a difficult period.
Click here for more about Anne’s Story (transcript appears on screen).
Parent Carer Videos
Parent carers came together online over 4-5 weeks and 1-1 over a longer period with facilitators on the project and made digital stories about care, love and unjust care systems.
Rosie gave up her accounting career in the city to start a family. Little did she know that her second born child would have severe, complex special needs and require 24/7 support.
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Teresa is a parent carer for her child with learning disabilities. In this film Teresa shares her experiences of caring and of hoarding.
Click here for transcript (video pending).
Pearl is a full time, unpaid carer for my adult daughter who has Severe Autism and Learning Difficulties.
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Clare worked as an investigative political journalist. In her spare time, she acted, co-directed and managed an amateur theatre group, loved to dance, hike, travel, write and would read several books each week. All of this stopped when her fourth daughter (she has five!) was diagnosed with post-birth hypoxia resulting in severe brain injury, tetraplegia and extremely complex health needs requiring 24/7 nursing-level care. Clare wasn’t a nurse but had to learn the requisite clinical skills very quickly as no support was available.
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Michele is retired and is the main carer for her 20 year old daughter who was born with an extremely rare chromosome condition.
Michele is involved with the #ChildTrustFundAccess campaign which raises awareness and helps families of disabled children who are not able to access their Child Trust Fund.
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Denise is a parent carer for her daughter who has a diagnosis of Dravet Syndrome and learning disabilities. Denise shares her experiences of caring and the caring that continues whether living together or separately.
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Yvonne is a 65 year old mum from Leeds. My film is about my 25 year old daughter, Amali, who has Asperger’s Syndrome and a learning disability.
It depicts a typical day of our lives when she was younger, preparing for the school day and transport from the moment the alarm goes off.
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Jemma is a parent carer for her son who has learning disabilities. In this film Jemma shares her experiences of caring and identity in the context of being a family carer.
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Chris is a former family carer who cared for his disabled daughter for going on 40 years with his wife and a team of carers. His wife died in September 2020 and then followed in October 2022 with his disabled, however, he continues to be involved with social care and health and the voluntary/charity sector.
Click here for transcript.
Selected Publications
Runswick-Cole, K., Douglas, P., Ryan, S., & Smith, M. (Accepted: 2025). Moving off script: A/synchronous storytelling with family carers and people with learning disabilities. Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies. ISSN: 1757-6458 (In Press).
Smith, M., Runswick-Cole, K., Ryan, S., Croot, L., Hatton, C., Kassa, C., Cisneros, R., Douglas, P., & The Tea and Cake Group. (2025). Tired of Spinning Plates: A Rapid Scoping Review of the Mental Health Needs and Mental Health Support of Carers of Adults with Learning Disabilities in the United Kingdom. International Journal of Disability and Social Justice, 5 (3). pp. 246-289.
Smith, M., Runswick-Cole, K., Ryan, S., & Douglas, P. (2024). Dis/entangling the cultural politics of care. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research, 26(1), 28-43. DOI: 10.16993/sjdr.1101
Runswick-Cole, K., Douglas, P., Smith, M., & Ryan, S. (2026). Spinning Digital Yarns: exploring a critical disability studies approach to participatory multimodal analysis. ECQI, Athens, Greece, 13-16 January. [co-authorship workshop]