|
|
|
|
|
Feature
Article - Is community support always the answer?
Placing all our eggs in the basket of community
support could be a risky enterprise for people
who need skilled help, says Andrew Holman who
recently attended Paradigm’s provocatively
titled conference: ‘Should we ban brokerage?’
Download
this article (pdf - 106kb) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| ALSO:
Bringing fresh thinking to an old organisation |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Seán
Kelly interviews Mark Goldring, Chief Executive
at Mencap – who is bringing fresh
thinking to an old organisation. Mark Goldring
faced some pretty big challenges during
his first year.
He lists them as:
• phenomenal financial challenges
• understanding the disability movement
in the UK (his last job was Director of
VSO)
• working relations with many different
local authorities, including responding
to 150 different councils’ interpretations
of personalisation
• running an organisation with multiple
functions: service delivery, public information
and campaigning
• having many contracts but not being
rich
• being a national organisation but
having 600 affiliated local groups
On top of this he has had to deal with the
changes in disability legislation, Valuing
People Now, Employment Programmes, the Equalities
Bill .......
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| Sexual
Abuse - Breaking the Silence |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The National
Mental Health Development Unit have developed
a strategy for routinely asking mental health
service users if they have experienced sexual
abuse at any point during their lives. Deborah
Lyttleton reports on a conference looking at how
this policy could be applied to work with people
with learning difficulties. She came to some uncomfortable
conclusions, for example; Is it right to ask people
as a matter of routine about whether they have
been sexually abused? If so, is it OK to expect
the worker asking the question to deal with whatever
may come up?....
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| Financial
abuse - stick with friends you can trust |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Debt
and keeping safe from exploitation always
feature high in the concerns of people with
learning difficulties. A workshop has been
touring the country to help vulnerable people
learn about deb through drama. Jill Parker
explains how the workshop ‘Safety
in Numbers’ tackles issues around
debt and exploitation by helping people
to think about money in the context of relationships.
It begins with a play about a father and
daughter; the father lives off his savings,
his daughter spends her money on her boyfriend
and lives off her father, credit cards and
loans. Then the audience are asked to think
about the future consequences and how they
could be sorted out...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| In January
2008, Disability Action in Islington delivered training
on disabled people’s rights under Part 3 of
the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) to
the First Choice Trainers – a group of people
with learning difficulties based at and employed
by Siren Arts & Advocacy in Islington. The
outcome of this training is an accessible guide
made by The First Choice Trainers. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| Student
section – building a positive value
structure |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Paul Williams
urges students to develop a strong sense of values.
Individual people with learning difficulties are
likely to be highly valued by their family and friends
and, hopefully, by all the people who work with
them or support them. However, in wider society
some more negative values may hold sway, indeed
some very recent examples are the unnecessary deaths
of people with learning difficulties highlighted
in the Mencap report ‘Death by Indifference’...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| Decisions,
decisions – establishing a legal framework
around decision making |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In the
first part of this major feature looking at the
Mental Capacity Act, Susan Elsmore and Alison
Picton of the Social Care Institute for Excellence
present an overview of some of the key provisions
of the Act looking in particular at how it affects
people with learning difficulties. In part two,
we will cover: assessing capacity, independent
MC Advocates and Lasting Powers of Attorney.
|
|
|
|
|
