Describe How Past Ways Of Working May Affect Present Services

Unit 22... Understanding the Context of Supporting Individuals with Learning Disabilities. 1. 1 Identify Legislation and policies that are designed to promote the human rights, inclusion, equal life chances and citizenship of individuals with learning disabilities. Human Rights Stereotyping labelling Discrimination Anti Discrimination Oppression Anti Oppression Valuing people Mental Capacity Act Human Rights Act 2000. No Secrets – Guidance published by the Department of Health, builds upon the governments respects for human rights and highlights the need to protect vulnerable adults through effective multi-agency work.

National Care Standards Commission, now the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI). In Safe Hands: Implementing adult procedures in Wales The Human Rights Act 1998 became law in Briton in 2000 and its articles and protocols, give all people constitutional rights that were intended to prevent discrimination and unfair treatment, echoing and the idea of advocacy: Being able to say what I like as long as I respect others. Making choices about my life. Expecting people to listen to me.

Having information about my rights. Having my rights respected. Being safe at home and having time to myself. Speaking out and complaining if something is wrong. Choosing the people I see and who my friends are. Getting married and having children. Living with people that I get on with. Deciding what I spend my money on and getting paid for what I do. 1. 2 Explain how this legislation and policies influence the day to day experiences of individuals with learning disabilities and their families.

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There is less ignorance in the community as more people with learning disabilities have been able to have better access in the community and the public are getting use to adapting to them. Also due to training at work the public are getting training at work and this is also making them aware about disabled people and they are being taught about disabled people. Also due to legislations, disability act's, SOVA and Mental health acts, disabled people are being employed for work and are not being discriminated against and every one suitable for the job regardless of the disability are being adapted to and employed.

Also ''back in the day'' (still in the 20th century) there were a vast amount of institutions and now there are no institutions due to the legislations that have been put in place and the human rights that there are as it is inhumane to institutionalise anyone. Families are also getting more help form the government and are receiving benefits to help them care for their loved ones. They families are also receiving support from the local councils and carers are coming to the home and taking disabled people out in the community. The day centre's also adheres to the day to day legislation, policies and equal opportunities. 2. Explain what is meant by learning disabilities. A significantly reduced ability to understand new or complex information, to learn new skills with: A reduced ability to cope independently, which started before adulthood with a lasting effect on development. Degrees of Learning Disabilities MILD: Obvious difficulties in learning, especially educational skill, but can acquire skills of everyday living. MODERSTE: Considerable difficulties in learning, will probably need help mastering everyday skills. SEVERE: Substantial difficulties, language abilities will be limited. Will need support with many daily living activities.

PROFOUND: Extreme difficulties in all learning. Limited communication and may possibly have physical needs. Will be dependant on others for personal care and other daily living activities. 2. 2 Give examples of causes of learning disabilities. Causes of learning disabilities can occur at various stages of development either before birth or after birth. The disabilities which occur before birth or (pre-natally) are know as congenital causes such as chromosomes, Fragile X Syndrome. In other cases, harmful substances in the womb may affect a foetus, this could include alcoholism or drug abuse during pregnancy.

After birth or (post-natally) causes can occur because of illness, injury or environmental conditions, for example: Meningitis..... Brain injury...... Malnutrition. 2. 3 Describe the medical and social models of disabilities. The medical model of disability views disabilities as a problem that belongs to the disabled person. It is not seen as a problem that needs the concern of anyone else apart from the disabled individual affected, for example if a wheelchair user is unable to get into a building because there are steps then, the wheelchair is seen as the problem not the steps, according to the medical model.

The social model suggests that it is the steps that are the issue not the wheelchair, as it is the steps which are disabling the person access, which is seen as a barrier. This model suggests that it is society disabling people through designing everything to meet the needs of the majority of people, who are not disabled. The social model believe that there is a great deal that society can do to reduce and ultimately remove, some of the barriers.

This task is the responsibility of society rather then the person, as far as is reasonably practical – which by if it is a big organisation and it is financially possible and financially beneficial, then it would make sense to adapt and make provisions for disabled people to have access for example, wider doors, disabled toilets, a ramp, lifts if it is not a ground level building, although if it is only a small company then it may not benefit them financially to adapt there building. As if they are not getting the business then there may not be a need to adapt for the one in a million disabled person, as it may not be practical. . 4 State the approximate proportion of individuals with a learning disability for whom the cause in not known. In adults with a mild learning disabilities, 50% of cases have no cause of identification. In adults with severe or profound learning disabilities, chromosomal abnormalities cause around 40% of cases. Prenatal and perinatal problems cause around 10% of learning disability, and post natal issues a further 10% of cases and unknown cause's are at around 25%. 2. 5 Describe the possible impact on a family of having a member with a learning disability.

The impacts will depend on the type of condition and severity, as well as the physical, emotional, and financial wherewithal of the family and the resources that are available. Having a family member with a learning disability can be reacted upon in many different ways, for example – A family may see this family member no differently from their other children. They will support the child at home and continue to live 'normally'. They would get help from the local authorities and from social services and get their family member sent to a special school specific to their needs.

They would monitor the progress and aim to teach them personal care, social skills and everyday living skills to make their life as normal as possible. There is possibility that the family member may be challenging but the monitoring that was put in place previously would know what triggers the behaviour, and how to calm them down. The main carer may possibly have to leave work and the family member would have to be their main focus. This may put a struggle on the rest of the family financially and mentally as the rest of the family could feel unappreciated and start having bad behaviour to try and get attention, and to get by.

On the other hand a family may feel like they do not have the ability to cope and may put the family member in either foster care or permanent care. Dependant on the severity of the disabled person is dependant on the affect which it could have and dependant on the disability and the severity of the ability. You may have to fight for help from the professionals and be persistent to get the help and support you need and not give up and tat may be hard as at times you may feel let down by the service your being offered or like you are getting nowhere and this could make you feel like giving up.

It can broaden horizons, increase family members' awareness of their inner strength, enhance family cohesion, and encourage connections to community groups or religious institutions. On the negative side, the time and financial costs, physical and emotional demands, and logistical complexities associated with raising a disabled person can have far-reaching effects. 3. 1 Explain the types of services that have been provided for individuals with learning disabilities over time. Collages have provided sessions and lessons specifically designed for disabled people to meet their needs.

Day centres have been provided for a wide variety of disabled people for stimulation and person centred needs. Charities, volunteers and church run groups are available. Advocacy groups – talk-back. Health care, specialist nurses and education. Ategi. People with learning disabilities have been assessed in great depth to assess whether they have the capacity to have direct payments and personal budgets. People are getting supported living and outsource day opportunities. 3. 2 Describe how past ways of working may affect present services.

Incidents that were happening such as abuse within institutions is one of the main reasons that we now have introduced safeguarding, and also as people were being hidden from the truth of the ongoings in the institutions. Inspections from the likes of C. Q. C are in the pipe line for day services. Safeguarding training has been pushed harder for all employees to get a place on a course for greater understanding and so that the disabled adults are safe. Identify some of the key changes in the following areas of the lives of individuals who have learning disabilities: A) Where People live.

Huge changes have been made in society and disabled people now have access to supported living, shared life, Ategi, Respite services and Residential home services. This provides disabled people who have the ability to live on their own have their mental capacity assessed to decide what the clients needs are based on person centred individual care. B) Daytime activities Charities and volunteers have organised church run groups in late afternoon early/evening's for adults with learning disabilities and the day centres provide stimulating outings for all the clients weekly whether its going for a ride in the bus or going swimming.

The government also arranges social worker's to go to their homes and take clients out. C)Employment Each client with a learning disability will have a back to base assessment and this will assess whether a client has the capacity and ability to be able to work in paid employment. Also there are anti discrimination acts in place where if you do have a learning disability, then you are not able to be discriminated against and you have a fair right to employed. D)Sexual relationships and parenthood For an adult to have a sexual relationship and consider entering parenthood then the individual(s) will need to have a capacity assessment.

With the assessment this determines whether the individual is able to understand and fully consent to the sexual relationship. If it is deemed that the client doesn't have the capacity to have a sexual relationship then the client will not be able to be involved and the client will have to have a best interest assessment in place. If it was deemed appropriate then the social services will become more involved to make sure that any of the individuals involved wasn't being abused in any way under the Sexual Offences Act 2003. If needed you would receive extra support from midwives and social services would monitor you throughout the pregnancy.

You could even have extra help during and after for example you may get help for cooking and cleaning and the council would pay for this. If the sexual relationship progressed into something further for instance pregnancy, then again the social services would get involved and a capacity assessment would be done to assess whether you are fit to be a parent, and if you were then what help and support you would need if any. Also there would be a best interest assessment whether you are aloud to continue with the pregnancy and whether your aloud to keep the baby or put the baby up for adoption.

If you did have the baby and keep the baby then you would be regularly assessed by the social services to make sure that you are coping and if you needed any help and the help and services they could offer you for full support. E) The provision of healthcare Each client has a medical health passport which follows them around whenever they need to go to the doctors or hospital then the medical professionals have the information they need to help medicate you or assess what is wrong to enable the professionals to give you the correct care you need.

Each client has there own nurse, who have been trained in learning disabilities so that if you need help or advice then they are there for you and know your history. Also client have transport passports which enables them to travel safely. 4. 1 Explain the meaning of the term 'social inclusion. Inclusion is based upon the idea of allowing everyone equal access to a service regardless of gender, disability, religion etc. There are many ways to ensure that your setting adheres to its inclusion policy. Here are a few examples.

In a learning disability environment you could make access for disabled people possible by providing disabled toilets, ramps and wide doors. You could disabled people and families who have English as a second language resources to help with communication such as books and diagrams of words ; their meanings. Also staff could learn other means of communicate for example makaton and British sigh language as with disabled people with a hearing impairment you could train staff up on sign language to help with communication.

For people with learning difficulties you could ensure that you gain support from outside agencies such as speech therapists, health visitors, specialist nurses etc. 4. 2 Explain the meaning of the term advocacy. Advocacy is: Protecting your rights when you are vulnerable. Listening to you Ensuring that you are listened to. Providing you with information so that you can make informed choices and decisions. Helping you to express yourself and take part in decisions which affect you. Respecting your right to make your own choices.

Being there for you without conflict of interest. Advocacy must: Be Accessible to all who require it. Be Accountable to those who use it and fund it. Put those who use it first. Be as free as possible from conflicts of interest. Describe different types of advocacy. Self advocacy - This refers to the civil rights movement for people with developmental disabilities also called cognitive or intellectual disabilities, and other disabilities. The self-advocacy movement is (in basic terms) about people with disabilities speaking up for themselves.

Self-Advocacy or Speaking up for yourself is to speak up for oneself, either as a member of a group or as an individual and contains an element of developing the confidence, skills and knowledge to do this. Self-advocacy groups are the same as self-help groups but will often involve the use of a facilitator or supporter where additional skills are required that members of the group do not already have. Peer advocacy - Peer Advocacy refers to “experts by experience”, and is used to describe advocacy relationships where both the advocate and the advocacy partner share similar experiences, difficulties or discrimination.

This can include looked after children, with experience of children’s homes, those with mental ill health, the elderly or people with a learning disability. Peer advocacy is often spontaneous in such settings as day centres. Paid independent advocacy - In paid advocacy - sometimes called independent advocacy - the advocate receives a salary or a fee per client. Citizen advocacy - 'Citizen Advocacy organisations' (Citizen Advocacy programs/programmes) seek to cause benefit by reconnecting people who have become isolated from the ordinary community.

Statutory advocacy - Statutory Advocacy is a term used to describe advocacy roles that are established in legislation. Statutory advocates will have certain legal rights, and where certain criteria are met, a person may have a right to this form of advocacy. There are two forms of statutory advocacy; Independent Mental Health Advocates (IMHA’s) and Independent Mental Capacity Advocates (IMCA’s). All advocacy types are of equal value. What advocacy is used, and when, should depend on what is best suited to the person who seeks it. A single person may ask for different types of advocacy support at different times in their life.

What is common to all types of advocacy is that the person who it is for (in this instance the person with a learning disability) is always at the centre of the advocacy process. It is all about what that person wants, and finding the best way of getting that across to the people who need to know. Advocacy can be like tools in a tool box, the different types can be used together or separately depending on the job that needs to be done. People with learning disabilities say that being part of a self advocacy group or getting support from an advocate is a really important part of being able to take control of their lives. . 4 Describe the ways to build empowerment and active participation into everyday support with individuals with learning disabilities. The way that we build empowerment and active participation in the day services is by giving each client as much control and choice as possible. By knowing and assessing the capacity of the individual and then giving that individual the choice and control of their life doing the best we can to help them. 5. 1 Explain how attitudes are changing in relation to individuals with learning disabilities.

People with learning disabilities are given their voice and people are now excepting them as individuals and therefore the individual is getting the care and attention they do or don't need, this is making their lives better and more comfortable and so they are happier. Disabled people are now in the public more working and mixing with 'normal' people and so the 'normal' people are learning more about the individual and the wideness of people with learning disabilities and how to work with them in and work place and just on a day to day basis.

This is giving people in the public a wider knowledge and understanding so they are beginning to accept and learn to work with the disabled. 5. 2 Give examples of positive and negative aspects of being labelled as have a learning disability. Positive: Those who are not extensively trained about learning disabilities may think they understand their problems, when they really don't, and have unrealistic expectations or make assumptions that they cant do something that they can actually do. Choosing to allow a person to be abelled as learning disabled can provide the person with many advantages and specific adaptations can be made at their school/workplace. They may also receive special understanding from their teacher/colleges and others. If they realize that a learning disability is something that simply affects how another person learns, they may come to respect that persons abilities rather than focus on their areas of weakness. Negative: Being labelled as having a learning disability. Labels are for life, and many people fear that having a label attached them will cause people to treat them in a negative way.

Most people do not understand what it means to have a learning disability, and may discriminate against someone who is labelled as having a learning disability. 5. 3 Describe steps that can be taken to promote positive attitudes towards individuals with learning disabilities and their family/carers. Care in the community and action toward greater integration amongst mainstream society. To provide assistance and education for learning disabled people to gather the skills to live a less marginalised and more independent life within society.

As well as modernising day services to help encourage independent living and social skills for forming meaningful relationships with a different groups of people. The local authority must evaluate the person's needs and make provisions where possible. 5. 4 Explain the roles of external agencies and others in changing attitudes, policies and practice. Agencies and care providers have a role to play in changing the situation. People with learning disabilities should be supported to be all they can be, and to achieve their fundamental human rights, including the right to make an informed choice about whether or not to form relationships.

They are also working to improve conditions of the individuals that they work for. Some of the external agencies whom would be involved: Care Quality Commission, General Social Care Council, Skills for Care (includes Common Induction Standards) Health & Safety Executive, Social Care Institute for Excellence,the organisation you work for, yourself, advocates, citizens' advice bureau, charities, organisations, (Action on Hearing Loss, Scope, RNIB, Sense, Dementia UK, Alzheimer's Society, Parkinsons UK.

The roles of external agencies are: Having to keep updated with legislation and training on all the staff. This is agencies with whom the day centre uses: Doctors/Nurses, carers/parents, care managers and physiotherapists. Carers and families attitudes with regards to policy and practice is to have continued communication with all professionals. 6. 1 Identify ways of adapting each of the following when communicating with individuals who have learning difficulties.

Verbal communication:To learn the language that the client uses and the facial expression that the client uses as this can help you to understand how the client feels, also to listen to the client and not to finish the sentence for the client as this can lead to misunderstandings and confusions. You need to use simpler terms and never must use slang or jargon. Non Verbal communication:To watch facial expressions and body language that the client uses. Braille and sensory equipment will also help with communication and the clients needs.

Using bright colours, picture cards and makaton/sigh language. 6. 2 Explain why it is important, to use language that is both 'age appropriate' and ability appropriate' when communicating with individuals with learning disabilities. Its important to use age appropriate language as the client may have the ability to understand and respond to you when spoken to correctly, also you don't want the client to loose the ability to communicate, don't use big, long fancy words or talk fast.

Every one has different abilities some individuals can walk and talk and some are highly dependable on the help of others, some people can interact with others but some may not have the mental ability to. All clients have different abilities for instance one client will be able to communicate with you to tell you what they would like to eat, some may be able to show you through pointing or eye contact and others may only be able to show you through trial and error e. g. if they eat the food or spit it out.

You should use shorter sentences and give them time to take in what you are saying and be patient, give the client enough time to take in what you have said not rushing them. If you speak to the client like a child then this may upset of distress the client and make him/her feel inadequate, which could lead to further issues. When communicating you need to always communicate clearly and use basic English unless stated otherwise otherwise this could lead to misunderstandings. 6. 3 Describe ways of checking whether an individual has understood communications, and how to address any misunderstandings.

By knowing how the client communicates, you can read the facial expressions for example – blinking, head movements, sounds or body movements. If a client has misunderstood what you have said then the client may either not answer or act differently or answer even though they are not aware what they are saying. If the client is struggling to understand you or you think the client has misunderstood you then you need to rephrase the question or use visual aids, as this could help you to explain it in another way.

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