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Inclusion in political and public life: the experiences of people with intellectual disability on government disability advisory bodies in Australia
- Authors:
- FRAWLEY Patsie, BIGBY Christine
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, 36(1), March 2011, pp.27-38.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
In the last decade, Australian governments have used disability advisory bodies as a means to canvass the views of people with disability and involve them in the process of policy making. This study explored the political orientations that members with an intellectual disability bring to disability advisory bodies and their experience of participating, in order to consider the types of support necessary to facilitate their participation. The 9 main participants were the only people with an intellectual disability who were members of disability advisory bodies in Australia in 2005. 2 or more in-depth interviews were conducted with each of them. 12 people associated with the participants' membership of the advisory body, including support workers and other members, were also interviewed. 3 political orientations were identified: democratic orientation (participation as a right), professional orientation (participation as a status symbol) and communitarian orientation (participation as the role of a community member). The participants found the work hard but rewarding, encountered both practical and intangible obstacles to participation, and received varying types of support. The article discusses the findings, with examples from the interviews, including experiences of participation, challenges and types of participation support.
Include us in!
- Author:
- SNELL Janet
- Journal article citation:
- Learning Disability Today, 10(10), December 2010, pp.14-15.
- Publisher:
- Pavilion
- Place of publication:
- Hove
The ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’ report published the results of a landmark consultation exercise with service users. The report was published alongside the Valuing People white paper in spring 2001 and helped to shape this policy. A service user group, made up of members of People First, Mencap, Change, and Speaking Up, travelled around the country to gather grassroots views. This was the first time that the government had formally consulted ordinary people with learning disabilities before devising policy that affected them. The consultation found that people wanted to talk about their lives, including jobs and homes, and not just health issues. It showed that people with learning disabilities could be involved at senior policy level, and acted as a major catalyst for change enshrining the right to be included. This article considers whether, when it comes to inclusion, lasting gains were made. It argues that, although much has been achieved, more work still needs to be done. One legacy of the consultation process was the setting up of the National Forum of People with Learning Difficulties to ensure that service users could continue to have their voice heard by policy makers, but this article argues that this forum has lost direction.
Beset by obstacles: a review of Australian policy development to support ageing in place for people with intellectual disability
- Author:
- BIGBY Christine
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, 33(1), March 2008, pp.76-86.
- Publisher:
- Taylor and Francis
Australian government policy regards people with intellectual disability (ID) as citizens with equal rights, which means that they should have access to the same opportunities as the wider community. Ageing in place is central to aged care policy in Australia for the general population. This paper reviews policy to support the provision of similar opportunities to age in place for people with ID, and the reasons for its slow development. Due to lifestyle patterns earlier in the life course, many people with ID experience a mid-life disruption to their accommodation, and may live in a group home as they age or may move prematurely to residential aged care. The absence of mechanisms to adjust disability funding as needs change, and the existence of policy that denies residents in group homes access to community-based aged care, forces disability services to “go it alone” to support ageing in place. Despite a national priority to improve the interface between the disability and aged care sectors, administrative and funding characteristics continue to obstruct the development of implementation strategies to support ageing in place for people with ID, which remain at the stage of an exploration of the issues.
Valuing employment now: job coaching or supported employment: approach and progress in developing standards
- Author:
- GREAT BRITAIN. Department of Health. Valuing Employment Now
- Publisher:
- Great Britain. Department of Health
- Publication year:
- 2010
- Pagination:
- 8p.
- Place of publication:
- London
The Government view on supported employment (a personalised approach to working with people with significant disabilities, including people with learning disabilities and autism, to access and retain open employment) was outlined in Valuing Employment Now (2009). This included a commitment to publish standards for job coaching to drive improvements in supported employment provision. Stating that agreement on a definition of supported employment is the starting point in the development of standards for job coaching, this document outlines the Government's draft definition of supported employment. It covers what supported employment is and its guiding principles, the supported employment model and key stages for employer and employee, job matching, arranging the right support, career development, employability skills, and who provides supported employment. It also sets out planned next steps for the Government: making the draft standards accessible; seeking views from stakeholders including disabled people, family carers, providers of supported employment and employers to agree the definition and the terminology to be used to describe both supported employment and job coaches; development of national standards.
Support and aspiration: a new approach to special educational needs and disability: a consultation
- Author:
- GREAT BRITAIN. Department for Education
- Publisher:
- Stationery Office
- Publication year:
- 2011
- Pagination:
- 128p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- London
Children who are disabled or who have special educational needs have disproportionately poor life chances and outcomes. This Green Paper presents for consultation the government's proposals for reform of the system to support children and young people who are disabled or who have special educational needs. The main objectives of the proposals are: to support better life outcomes for young people (with a new approach to identifying special educational needs and a new single assessment process and Education Health and Care Plan by 2014), to give parents confidence by giving them more control (with local authorities and other services to set out a local offer of all services available and the option of a personal budget by 2014), and to transfer powers to professionals on the front line and to local communities (giving parents a choice of school and introducing greater independence to the assessment of children's needs). The proposals and questions for consultation are set out in 5 chapters: early identification and assessment, giving parents control, learning and achieving, preparing for adulthood, and services working together for families. As well as a four-month period of consultation, there will be practical testing in local areas with local pathfinder projects from September 2011.
Valuing people: hopes and dreams for the future
- Author:
- FORBAT Liz
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 34(1), March 2006, pp.20-27.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This paper outlines the views of key policy makers, implementers and practitioners on Valuing People (Department of Health, Valuing people. A new strategy for learning disability for the 21st century, The Stationary Office, London, 2001). It reports a series of interviews conducted in 2003/2004 with a diverse selection of people involved in English policy construction and implementation around the support needs of people with a learning disability and/or around older people and dementia. Interviewees talked about what they perceived to be the strengths and weaknesses of policies for this client group, which led to thinking particularly about the gaps in provision for people with a learning disability as they age. The findings discussed here introduce interviewees' reported hopes and dreams for social policy in 10 years' time. Themes included training, the rights of carers, daytime activities, family respite, flexible finance packages and housing. The interviewees highlighted satisfaction and dissatisfaction in the connections between policy and practice. Areas for policy development and, crucially, ways of improving provision to people with a learning disability who develop dementia are highlighted.
If person-centred planning did not exist, Valuing People would require its invention
- Author:
- O'BRIEN John
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 17(1), March 2004, pp.11-15.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Person-centred planning is one important tool in making the culture change necessary to realize the Government's promise in Valuing People. Some potential dangers in large scale implementation are identified, a logic for local action is described, the criteria for effective person-centred planning are defined in terms of supporting personal choice, the contribution of person-centred planning to organizational culture change is identified, the possibility of failure to implement policy change is acknowledged, and the potential benefits of person-centred planning under conditions of policy failure is described.
Unequal impact? Coronavirus, disability and access to services: full report. Fourth report of session 2019–21
- Author:
- GREAT BRITAIN. Parliament. House of Commons. Women and Equalities Committee
- Publisher:
- Great Britain. House of Commons
- Publication year:
- 2020
- Pagination:
- 53
- Place of publication:
- London
This report considers disabled people's access to food shopping, health and social care services and provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities during the pandemic. It also examines the effectiveness and accessibility of the Government’s consultation and communications with disabled people about coronavirus. Disabled people who already faced substantial barriers to full participation in society, for example because services were inaccessible or they had additional health, care and support or special educational needs, have suffered a range of profoundly adverse effects from the pandemic, including starkly disproportionate and tragic deaths. The report argues that: the Government must justify its assertion that “we need to get away from the food parcel model” by publishing an ongoing assessment of disabled people’s needs for help accessing food; potentially discriminatory critical care guidelines and doctors’ blanket use of do not attempt resuscitation (DNAR) notices caused disabled people great distress; the Government should work with the NHS, British Medical Association and people with learning disabilities to ensure full reintroduction of annual health checks across the NHS and increase take up; the Government must bring forward a social care reform package, including actions to improve the quality and personalisation of care and support for working age disabled people across all social care settings; the Government must prioritise its SEND review and bring forward as a matter of urgency reforms; the Government must consult widely with disabled people and their organisations on ways to embed in the forthcoming National Strategy for Disabled People genuinely effective mechanisms by which disabled people can influence policies and practices which directly affect them. Ministers and officials involved in communicating public health messages to disabled people should undergo training in psychologically informed communications which take fully into account and empathise with disabled people’s lived experiences. (Edited publisher abstract)
Person-centred planning or person-centred action?
- Authors:
- MANSELL Jim, BEADLE-BROWN Julie
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 17(1), March 2004, pp.31-35.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This article looks at issues raised under three headings addressing the scale of the task envisaged in the 2001 White Paper Valuing People, the feasibility and effectiveness of individual planning and how to achieve person-centred action. The authors conclude that there is substantial agreement about the goals of intellectual disability services and the processes that need to take place around individuals to help them get what they need and want. They disagree about whether person-centred planning will deliver this, and about whether it will provide a robust basis for claiming and defending the resources people with intellectual disabilities will need in the future.
Social services: achievement and challenge; presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Health by Command of Her Majesty, March 1997
- Authors:
- GREAT BRITAIN. Department of Health, GREAT BRITAIN. Welsh Office
- Publisher:
- Stationery Office
- Publication year:
- 1997
- Pagination:
- 39p.
- Place of publication:
- London
Government White Paper on the future of social services.