Search results for ‘Subject term:"learning disabilities"’ Sort:
Results 1 - 9 of 9
Patterns of culture and power after 'The Great Release': the history of movements of subculture and empowerment among Danish people with learning difficulties
- Author:
- BYLOV Frank
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 34(3), September 2006, pp.139-145.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This article discusses the history of self-advocacy in Denmark. It also gives some information about how services for people with learning difficulties in Denmark have changed over the past 100 years. The author discusses the different types of self-advocacy groups that have grown in Denmark. He describes how these movements have developed in 'generations'. Three 'generations' are identified: movements of cultural role transgression; movements of self-advocacy; and movements of political empowerment. The author draws on theory to help explain some of the developments that self-advocacy groups in Denmark have been through during their history.
Korean disability employment policy: what is it offering people with learning disabilities?
- Authors:
- KIM Jin Woo, DAVIS Ann
- Journal article citation:
- Social Policy and Society, 5(3), July 2006, pp.409-419.
- Publisher:
- Cambridge University Press
From the 1960s onwards opportunities for employment for disabled people have been promoted by the South Korean government and recent research has focused on the achievements of policies in this area. However people with learning disabilities have largely been ignored in this research. The paper draws on a study which used research methods designed explicitly to enable people with learning disabilities to participate and their voices to be heard. The findings highlight the failure of current policies to provide suitable employment opportunities for people with learning disabilities and the paper concludes with some recommendations.
Learning from the experts: people with learning difficulties training and learning from each other
- Authors:
- WEEKS Louise, et al
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 34(1), March 2006, pp.49-55.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This article discusses a training project run by Central England People First (CEPF) to help other people with learning difficulties to learn how to be trainers. The National User Training Development Project, was funded by the Department of Health. The training team designed a 2-day programme, and asked people in different parts of the country to try it out. Eight organizations agreed, including a care village, another People First group and two social services departments. Eighty people with learning difficulties and support people took part. The project team told them about what training is for, and how to organize it. They also had the chance to try out their own ideas. They practiced 'role plays', 'speaking up', doing quizzes and using video recorders. At the end, the people who took part filled in evaluation sheets, so that the team could find out if the training was useful. Most people said that they had enjoyed it, and that they had learned something. The article concludes that: people with learning difficulties can be good trainers, because they are experts about services and the things that are important in their lives; and that using training can be a good way of helping people with learning difficulties to speak out about how they want to be treated.
A new movement in an old bureaucracy: the development of self-advocacy in the Czech Republic
- Author:
- SISKA Jan
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 34(3), September 2006, pp.139-145.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
The author describes how self-advocacy has grown in the Czech Republic, and provides an overview of its relatively short history within the broader context of political and administrative change toward community-based services, and the slow process of de-institutionalisation. The development of the country's first self-advocacy group is also described. The author highlights the importance of the systematic support for self-advocacy groups in the Czech Republic.
Is my story so different from yours? Comparing life stories, experiences of institutionalization and self-advocacy in England and Iceland
- Authors:
- HREINSDOTTIR Eyglo Ebba, et al
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 34(3), September 2006, pp.157-166.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This paper uses oral history and documentary materials to develop a cross-cultural comparison of the experiences of two self-advocates who spent significant parts of their lives in learning difficulty institutions in England and Iceland. Anne Lewthwaite from England, and Eyglo Ebba Hreinsdottir from Iceland, born in the same era (1948–1950) researched and recorded their life stories and in May 2004, jointly presented these at an Open University Conference. Their stories bring to life the history of the institutions and the experiences of those who 'spoke up' and challenged the system long before formal self-advocacy groups were established. Alongside this oral history work policy developments in each culture are described and compared to provide context to their life histories. The findings also highlight important similarities and differences between the two cultures in terms of the history of learning difficulty. The women's experience of participating in cross-cultural oral history work is discussed together with the contribution of a comparative approach in furthering historical understanding of self-advocacy.
A real life a real community: the empowerment and full participation of people with an intellectual disability in their community
- Author:
- MARTIN Robert
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, 31(2), June 2006, pp.125-127.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Autobiographical account by a New Zealand activist advocating the empowerment and social inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in their community.
From biscuits to boyfriends: the ramifications of choice for people with learning disabilities
- Authors:
- SMYTH Catherine M., BELL Dorothy
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 34(4), December 2006, pp.227-236.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Choice plays an important role in a person's quality of life. This paper looks at the issue of choice for people with learning disabilities. It considers the extent to which people with learning disabilities are able to choose and are provided with real choices. It also covers the extent to which true choice may or may not be advantageous for some people with learning disabilities. By concentrating particularly on the issue of choice about food and diet, this paper indicates how seemingly simplistic choices, such as decisions over food consumed, can cause major health problems for the decision-maker and hence be a more complex and vital decision than at times it is perceived to be. Additionally, this paper focuses on important factors surrounding choice for people with learning disabilities that previous research may have overlooked. One such factor is how past experience affects the decision-making process. Another, is the issue of the range of choice that is possible, relative to a person's cognitive ability to be fully aware of this range. In particular, this paper emphasizes the important role of the carer. It addresses the impact which the carer's own, perhaps unconscious personal choices, beliefs and ideologies may have on the 'choices' made by people with learning disabilities, and more worryingly, on the 'choices' offered to them. This paper highlights problems with current research into the area of choice for people with learning disabilities and provides suggestions for future study.
Inclusion or control? Commissioning and contracting services for people with learning disabilities
- Author:
- CONCANNON Liam
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 34(4), December 2006, pp.200-205.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This paper seeks to critically assess the impact made by the introduction of commissioning and contracting as a new culture of social care in learning disability services. It offers an evaluation of the growth in importance of the user as consumer. Does the commissioning and the contract process give users with learning disabilities a greater influence over their services and ultimately their lives? It is suggested that far from empowering people with learning disabilities to have a say in the services they want, the emerging culture of business contracts and new public management transfers power firmly back into the hands of professionals making the decisions. Social work practice is changing in response to major shifts in social trends and at the behest of market values. Traditional models are being rejected and the challenge for social work is to adapt itself to operate within a competency based paradigm. The paper argues that at the centre of this new culture is a government use of a system of performance management that successfully drives down cost. Thus there remain contradictions between the adoption of a mixed economy of care; services planning; consumerism; resource constraints; and the communication difficulties experienced by many people with learning disabilities.
I have the power
- Author:
- VALIOS Natalie
- Journal article citation:
- Community Care, 16.03.06, 2006, pp.32-33.
- Publisher:
- Reed Business Information
The author reports on 'In Control', which provides self-directed support for people with learning difficulties, whilst seeing the social care system from the perspective of the service user. Users are told their annual funding entitlement so they have the information to devise their own support plan. The article includes details of how 'In Control' made an impact on one service users life.