physical and learning disabilities

The head of health and safety at national learning disability charity United Response has won an industry award recognising her work to transform fire safety advice for people living at its registered care homes across England and Wales.

Michael, who lives with schizophrenia and learning disabilities, is a resident at Exemplar Health Care’s Doncaster home for adults with complex needs, Quarryfields. Here, he tells LDT about a voluntary project he recently participated in.

Joanne Hall has been working for United Response, a disability charity, for fifteen years. 

Having an autistic spectrum disorder, learning disability, or mental health problem should not prohibit someone from enjoying cultural events such as theatre. A playhouse in Nottingham is using theatre to facilitate discussion and tackle stigma.

SWAN UK will launch a new animated film to raise awareness ahead of Undiagnosed Children’s Day this Friday.

Children with complex health needs or who are dependent on medical technology and their families want to lead as ordinary a life as possible, but find many barriers to achieving this. However, they can be broken down through adaptations and using different funding models By Jill Davies, research programme manager at the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities

Specialised equipment can substantially improve a person with complex healthcare needs’ quality of life, but getting the right pieces is not always easy, as Anna Waugh explains

Doreen and Maggie are best friends and have just moved into their first home together at the ages of 80 and 77 respectively. This huge step has made a massive difference in their lives and they are now planning to put their stamp on their new place. Sinead McHugh-Hicks shares their story.

A report from the Local Government Ombudsman on a complaint about a delay by Birmingham City Council in assessing a disabled man's needs. [10-Sep-2012]

This FASD Awareness Toolkit contains information and tools to help raise awareness of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. [21-Oct-2013]

Barbara Bowness - 1000 Lives Improvement (Public Health Wales, 2014)
This improvement guide has been produced to enable healthcare organisations and their teams to successfully implement a series of interventions to improve the safety and quality of care that their patients receive.
 

In the Know – Fact sheet 1: Dementia and people with learning difficulties – some basic problems
This clear, accessible pack will be of particular interest to direct care staff, carers and other practitioners in the care field. This clear, accessible pack will be of particular interest to direct care staff, carers, nurses, and other practitioners in the care fieldIn the Know has been developed to try and help anyone trying to support a person with learning disabilities who develops dementia. The pack contains a series of easily accessible, straightforward, practical and realistic guidance to help anyone supporting someone with learning disabilities and dementia to provide good quality care. It is arranged in three sections: background, factsheets and tools. Each of these sections is designed to be used alone or together with other parts of the pack. The factsheet cover the following: dementia and people with learning disabilities; getting a diagnosis; communicating with people with dementia; life story work; challenging behaviour; developing suitable environments; supporting people to eat well; the later stages; supporting people to eat well; the later stages; supporting the friends and peers of the person with dementiaThe tools include: brain diagram; alert signs; differential diagnosis chart; an example of a diagnostic care pathway; dos and don'ts; charter for good practice in life story work; strategies to deal with effectively with challenging behaviour.The pack is the result of many years of research and practice by a multidisciplinary group of academic researchers, trainers and practitioners working with people with learning disabilities who develop dementia, and with their staff, family and friends.To buy you copy of In the Know click here 

 Delicious Conversations by Phoebe Caldwell – Chapter 1: Introduction
This handbook will be of interest to health and social care workers, personal assistants, service staff and managers, family members, individuals supporting people on the autistic spectrum and anyone with an interest in the nature of affective communication.Phoebe Caldwell offers us her personal insights into how we can experience intimacy with those on the autistic spectrum, based on years of experience working in the field. The book deals not only with ways of working in a professional context but also takes a more general look at the nature of affective communication and how we can learn to ‘read’ other people by recognising our subconscious reactions to their body language.Autism is a condition characterised by aloneness, separation and inward focus. Through her compelling reflections Caldwell shows us that by tuning in to our partners’ body language we can not only communicate with people with autism but also share an emotional connection, helping to combat the isolating nature of autistic spectrum conditions.Caldwell offers practical advice for ways that we can tap into our intuitive minds and share an intimate connection with our communication partners, building a dialogue that does not rely on speech but makes use of all of our senses. Using examples from her own experience Caldwell emphasises that these techniques can help to alleviate the distress that may be at the route of stereotypic behaviours, by communicating with people on their own terms and in their own ‘language’
Click here to buy your copy

This handbook is a great resource which is essential in helping ensure that there is a competent workforce that has the capabilities to provide effective, ethical and high quality support to people whose behaviour is described as challenging. It can be used as a stand alone resource but also supports the training pack of the same name - 'Challenging Behaviour'. This user friendly and accessible resource emphasises the importance of respecting people who use services, their families and carers.

Many young people with learning disabilities face a postcode lottery when it comes to post-16 education according to a new campaign set up to increase choices for those hoping to remain in education.