Working with Adults with Learning Disabilities CONCLUSION
We began by defining ‘learning disability’ and highlighting the importance of carers developing their awareness of potentially labelling a group of people because they have a particular area of need, i.e. learning disabilities. The government White Paper Valuing People: A New Strategy for Learning Disability for the 21st Century (Department of Health 2001a) clearly sets the agenda for us, in offering appropriate and effective support for adults with learning disabilities in their everyday lives.
The PCA has ensured a shift in the value base and the way in which we think about care delivery for adults with learning disabilities. The emphasis is placed on power and control, resting squarely with the individuals themselves. As students and carers working with people with learning disabilities in a variety of contexts, we need to ensure that we are adequately equipped with knowledge, skills and information to enable people to lead fulfilled lives. Fostering good working relationships with adults with learning disabilities and utilizing a variety of innovative communication and interpersonal skills to ensure effectiveness in support are advocated.
This engagement with adults with learning disabilities must include a core principle that they are people first, and assumptions and judgements may need to be challenged both within and by us and within the wider society within which we live and work. As students and carers, we are in a position of power, and need to ensure that that power base is shifted back to the adults with learning disabilities, enabling them to set the agenda for our relationships and interactions with them.
Cultural sensitivity, as well as gender and age considerations, must be evident within our working practice. This can be achieved with the application of a range of therapeutic approaches, such as empowerment, advocacy and person-centredness, enabling real power and control for the individual to be achieved.
The case study within this topic seeks to highlight the value of a PCA in supporting a person with a learning disability. As students and carers, we need to adapt and change our attitudes, ideas and working practices to ensure that adults with learning disabilities are afforded real opportunities to advocate on their own behalf and thus be empowered to lead the lives of their choosing.
