Search results for ‘Subject term:"learning disabilities"’ Sort:
Results 1 - 8 of 8
New public management and public services for people with an intellectual disability: a review of the implementation of valuing people in England
- Author:
- CUMELLA Stuart
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 5(3), September 2008, pp.178-186.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Public policy for people with an intellectual disability has been shaped since 1945 by universalistic ideas of human rights and social inclusion. These universalistic ideas are increasingly under challenge from consumerist ideas, which is reflected in public policy in the New Public Management (NPM). NPM involves a critique of poor coordination and quality in public services, and proposes the enhancement of consumer choice through a greater diversity of providers and market mechanisms to allow consumers to select between them, partnership arrangements to improve coordination, and target-setting and monitoring by governments. NPM has been widely applied internationally in the reform of public services, and has been implemented for services for people with an intellectual disability in England, following the white paper Valuing People in 2002. There is limited research data on the outcome of this policy, but it indicates that: (1) enhanced choice to be achieved by person-centred planning has probably affected only a minority of those eligible and has not changed access to public services; and (2) partnership boards have primarily existed to convey and manufacture consent for centrally determined policies. These problems match those identified in surveys of NPM in other sectors, but there is an additional concern that the consumerist ideas incorporated in Valuing People may be used by governments to replace, rather than supplement, policies to directly enhance access to public services through such measures as anti-discrimination laws. The review indicates a need to assess policies for people with an intellectual disability, in a wider social context and through international comparative research.
Learning disabilities: barriers to choice in residential services
- Authors:
- WALTON Chris, FINLAY Mick, SOCIAL CARE INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE
- Journal article citation:
- Community Care, 31.7.08, 2008, pp.30-31.
- Publisher:
- Reed Business Information
A recent study has revealed the extent of the obstacles to choice and control in residential settings for people with learning disabilities. In the first part of this article the first two authors highlight the key messages for practice. In the second part of the article the Social Care Institute for Excellence provides an overview of other research and resources on residential services and learning disabilities.
Promoting choice and control in residential services for people with learning disabilities
- Authors:
- FINLAY W.M.L., WALTON C., ANTAKI C.
- Journal article citation:
- Disability and Society, 23(4), June 2008, pp.349-360.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
This paper discusses the gap between policy goals and practice in residential services for people with learning disabilities. Drawing on a nine-month ethnographic study of three residential services, it outlines a range of obstacles to the promotion of choice and control that were routinely observed in the culture and working practices of the services. Issues discussed include conflicting service values and agendas, inspection regimes, an attention to the bigger decisions in a person's life when empowerment could more quickly and effectively be promoted at the level of everyday practice, problems of communication and interpretation and the pervasiveness of teaching. The authors offer a range of suggestions as to how these obstacles might be tackled.
Offering choices to people with intellectual disabilities: an interactional study
- Authors:
- ANTAKI C., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 52(12), December 2008, pp.1165-1175.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
At the level of policy recommendation, it is agreed that people with intellectual impairments ought to be given opportunities to make choices in their lives; indeed, in the UK, the Mental Capacity Act of 2005 enshrines such a right in law. However, at the level of practice, there is a dearth of evidence as to how choices are actually offered in everyday situations, which must hinder recommendations to change. This qualitative interactional study, based on video recordings in British residential homes, combines ethnography with the fine-grained methods of Conversation Analysis. Six conversational practices that staff use to offer choices to residents with intellectual disabilities are identified. The unwanted consequences of some of these practices are then described, and how the institutional imperative to solicit clear and decisive choice may sometimes succeed only in producing the opposite.
Missed out, missing out: adults with learning disabilities who live in the family home and their right to recognition and resources
- Author:
- QUARRIERS
- Publisher:
- Quarriers
- Publication year:
- 2008
- Pagination:
- 16p.
- Place of publication:
- Bridge of Weir
This report demonstrates that age is not the only issue driving inequalities of opportunity and choice for adults with learning disabilities in Scotland. Where and with whom an adult with a learning disability lives are also key determinants of opportunity, choice and service availability. Adults with learning disabilities who live in the family home are missed out and missing out. This 'hidden' population is being missed by those responsible for planning and providing services now, and in the future when aging carers can no longer look after them. This report questions whether adults with learning disabilities who live at home with their families have the same level of choice and services, as adults who live in supported accommodation. Recommendations are outlined.
Aggression, sociability, and roommate friendship: new findings translated into a resource for self-determined choices
- Authors:
- WILTZ James, KALNINS Tracy
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 5(3), September 2008, pp.159-166.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Many individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) live with others, but little is known about roommate compatibility, and there are no resources available to assist in the selection process. People with ID and those who support them need practical information in order to make more informed and therefore better choices. Self-determination also should play an increased role in this complicated choice. This American paper provides a practical, data-based resource that can be incorporated into a self-determined process of roommate selection. The authors conducted two studies, uncovered new information, and translated the findings into something that individuals and their supporters can use. The first study examined data from a community sample. In the second investigation, key findings were replicated and expanded in an institutional setting. Taken together, the findings of these studies are generalizable to a larger portion of the population. The results indicated that for the trait of sociability, similarity was the key to friendship. On the other hand, for aggressiveness, it was not similarity, but the total aggression in the pair that was (inversely) related to friendship. A practical multistep resource is provided for adults with ID and their advocates to help with the selection of a roommate who might also become a friend.
We have human rights: a human rights handbook for people with developmental disabilities
- Authors:
- HESLA Bret, KENNEDY Mary Kay
- Publisher:
- Harvard Law School Project on Disability
- Publication year:
- 2008
- Pagination:
- 28p.
- Place of publication:
- Cambridge, MA
This booklet aims to help people with developmental disabilities to learn about their rights and to talk with others about their rights. The booklet is in two sections, 'Your rights' and 'Building skills together'. Your rights covers aspects of human rights including: equality; safety; home and family; privacy; independent living; work; education; health; access; political life; new attitudes; culture and sports. Building skills together contains two exercises. The first, 'I want to live like this!' is about living independently in the community and deciding how you want to live. The second, 'Speak up with power' is about how to be assertive.
Community-based, consumer directed services: differential experiences of people with mild and severe intellectual disabilities
- Authors:
- NEELY-BARNES Susan L., MARCENKO Maureen O., WEBER Lisa
- Journal article citation:
- Social Work Research, 32(1), March 2008, pp.55-64.
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
Two intervention concepts have become widely accepted in the developmental disability field: (1) that residential services should be provided in the person's own home and (2) that consumers should have choice in services. Yet, there has been little empirical research to support these practices. In particular, it is unclear whether some individuals are better able to gain access to services delivered under this practice framework and experience more benefits than others. This study uses data from Washington State's National Core Indicators 2002 consumer survey to address these questions. Two subgroups, the first having a severe intellectual disability (ID) profile (n = 101) and the second having a mild ID profile (n = 220), were identified in the data set and compared. Individuals with mild intellectual disabilities experienced greater choice and smaller residential settings than did those with severe intellectual disabilities. Next, a multigroup path analysis assessed paths from size of living unit and consumer choice to community inclusion, revealing significant relationships between variables for the severe group but not for the mild group.