physical and learning disabilities

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