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How to make information accessible: a guide to producing easy read documents
- Author:
- CHANGE
- Publisher:
- Change
- Publication year:
- 2009
- Pagination:
- 46p.
- Place of publication:
- Leeds
This guidance produced by the National Equality Partnership and CHANGE, a national organisation led by disabled people, aims to make written information accessible to those who may find reading and writing difficult. Central to this is the belief that people who have learning difficulties have the expertise and knowledge to prepare such a document, and have done so with this guide. Here, accessible information means easy words and pictures, a style of language developed by people with learning disabilities over the past 15 years. Characterised by writing in short, simple sentences without jargon or hard words, clear and easy to understand pictures are used to support words, with an added value of helping those who do not have English as a first language. It takes time and money to create information to the easy words and pictures standard, so it is important to choose carefully which documents to use. It is suggested that some information could be made more accessible by the use of other, cheaper methods such as multimedia. The authors define jargon and hard words, detail laws such as the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and the 2006 Disability Equality Duty (DED) and advise on involving people with learning disabilities on how to improve accessibility and presentation of documents. Presented throughout, in the style of easy words and pictures, practical advice is given on how to prepare a document with a checklist and examples of good practice concluding the text.
Calling the shots
- Author:
- BALDWIN Michele
- Journal article citation:
- Learning Disability Today, 9(5), July 2009, pp.26-27.
- Publisher:
- Pavilion
- Place of publication:
- Hove
A three year project run by the Association for Real Change (ARC) has trained 12 people with learning disabilities to become trainers. The article summarises the training and learning points from the project.
'Who did what?': a participatory action research project to increase group capacity for advocacy
- Authors:
- GARCIA-IRIARTE E., et al
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, 22(1), January 2009, pp.10-22.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This participatory action research (PAR) project involved a collaboration with an American self-advocacy group of people with intellectual disabilities, People First, that sought to build group capacity for advocacy. The study used a focus group, sustained participatory engagement and a reflexive process to gather qualitative and quantitative data over 15 months. All methods were adapted to ensure accessibility and to support active participation. The collaboration generated action products, including tools to support advocacy and an accessible action and reflection process. Research findings suggest that active participation is essential for group control, but alone does not automatically lead to control. The manner in which supports are provided, including member supports, advisor supports, strategy supports and systems supports, influences the extent to which members have a sense of control over decision making and participation and thus, improved capacity for advocacy. A PAR approach can be used to increase a group's capacity for advocacy and meaningfully involve self-advocacy groups in participatory research that leads to change.
Good Learning Disability Partnership Boards: 'making it happen for everyone'
- Author:
- GREAT BRITAIN. Department of Health
- Publisher:
- Great Britain. Department of Health
- Publication year:
- 2009
- Pagination:
- 38p.
- Place of publication:
- London
This good practice guidance has been developed to help Learning Disability Partnership Boards to oversee the monitoring and delivery of Valuing People Now. The contents includes local governance arrangements, membership of Partnership Boards, good and effective meetings, work programmes, performance and financial management, and communication and awareness raising. Best practice examples and a self-assessment template setting out the range of local data that Partnership Boards can access to inorder to assess progress locally are also provided.
Training in partnership: role of service users with intellectual disability and carers
- Authors:
- BISWAS Asit B., RAJU Lammata Bala, GRAVESTOCK Shaun
- Journal article citation:
- Psychiatric Bulletin, 33(11), November 2009, pp.429-432.
- Publisher:
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
The participation of service users with intellectual disability and carers is essential in medical and psychiatric training at all levels. It validates the training experience provided by incorporating service users’ and carers’ perspectives and their experience of mental illness/challenging behaviour, anxieties, interactions and feelings generated when dealing with professionals involved in their care, and also provides an understanding of expectations, views on met and unmet needs and how management options are best explained and communicated for meaningful participation in providing consent and in making treatment decisions. This article brings together the benefits of involving service users with intellectual disability and carers in teaching, discussing their roles as trainers, and providing practical tips to plan sessions as well as recognise and overcome barriers.
A shadow council
- Author:
- GAULT Nicola
- Journal article citation:
- Learning Disability Today, 10(2), April 2009, pp.34-35.
- Publisher:
- Pavilion
- Place of publication:
- Hove
Due to different local structures, Northern Ireland has no partnership boards and so an alternative way of involving people is needed. This article describes an initiative to give adults with learning disabilities a formal platform to comment on policies affecting them through a shadow local council.
Participation patterns in an urban Special Olympics programme
- Author:
- GILLESPIE Mike
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 37(1), March 2009, pp.21-27.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This study examined the population demographics and participation characteristics of Special Olympics participants from an urban area in Canada. Registration information for 284 athletes was analysed with regard to age, sex and sports participated in. Findings indicated that the demographics of this Special Olympics cohort were predominantly male, older in years than other sport organisations and engaged in a small number of sports. Results are discussed in terms of the impact of an ageing athlete population, female participation patterns, health-related physical fitness implications of participation in certain sports and the range of activities offered.
The research provisions of the Mental Capacity Act 2005
- Author:
- PARKER Camilla
- Journal article citation:
- Tizard Learning Disability Review, 14(1), February 2009, pp.43-49.
- Publisher:
- Emerald
The Mental Capacity Act 2005 establishes a legal framework for making decisions on behalf of people who lack capacity to make such decisions for themselves. It also sets out the circumstances in which it is lawful to carry out research in relation to people who lack capacity to agree to participate in such research. This article considers these provisions (sections 30–34) and relevant guidance, in particular Chapter 11 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 Code of Practice in relation to adults aged 18 or over.
Talking about sex and relationships: the views of young people with learning disabilities
- Author:
- CHANGE
- Publisher:
- Change
- Publication year:
- 2009
- Pagination:
- 144p., bibliog.
- Place of publication:
- Leeds
This easy reading and illustrated accessible report from CHANGE (a leading national equal rights organisation led by disabled people) is based on research carried out by a team including researchers with learning disabilities and using a range of techniques including drama work with young people with learning disabilities. The report recommends more and better sex education, tailored for those with learning disabilities, better training and more support for professionals and more involvement of parents. Key findings suggest there needs to be more accessible sexual health information for young people with learning disabilities and for their parents, and this needs to include information about sexuality, abuse, and practical information about safer sex. There needs to be better training for teachers and sexual health professionals about delivering sex education or sexual health information to people with learning disabilities. Negative attitudes towards people with learning disabilities around sex and relationships need to be challenged by awareness-raising and education.
Parents as co-researchers: a participatory action research initiative involving parents of people with intellectual disabilities in Ireland
- Authors:
- WALMSLEY Jan, MANNAN Hasheem
- Journal article citation:
- British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 37(4), December 2009, pp.271-276.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
This paper evaluates a participatory action research approach to conducting family research in Ireland, where most adults with intellectual disabilities live with their parents. Drawing on participatory research methodology this paper describes how parents of people with intellectual disabilities were recruited and trained by staff of the National Institute for Intellectual Disability, in Ireland, to facilitate focus groups of parents, in order to create an evidence base to support improved dialogue between those parents and service providers. Seventy family members participated in the focus groups in nine locations across Ireland, of which 44 took part in training workshops for co-researchers. After the workshops 10 family members expressed continued interest in being co-researchers. The authors found that a participatory research approach has considerable potential to contribute to improved understanding of the realities of family life with an adult with intellectual disabilities, particularly if plans to create a dialogue with service providers and to build sustainable networks of parents are included in the project.