About Us
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2 - About Autism and Asperger's Syndrome
3 - About People with High Support Needs
1 - About Learning Disability
According to the World Health Organisation learning disabilities are an ‘arrested or incomplete development of mind’ and someone with a learning disability is also said to have ‘a significant impairment of intellectual functioning’ and ‘significant impairment of social/adaptive functioning’.
This can sound very complicated but in everyday language it means that having a learning disability can affect the way a person receives, remembers and understands information, as well as how they communicate with others. This may make it difficult for a person with a learning disability to succeed at school, develop friendships, get into employment and have a fulfilled life. People with a learning disability are intelligent and do have real abilities. The role of the Valuing Medway People Partnership Board is to help each individual with a learning disability to succeed by organising person centred services which meet all their needs, including health, relationships, leisure, housing, employment and learning.
Learning disability used to be called ‘mental handicap’ or ‘mental retardation’. Some people prefer to say ‘learning difficulty’, rather than ‘disability’. About 60 years ago the National Health Service began to change attitudes and in the UK, institutions in which people lived became hospitals, where people were cared for, rather than just locked away.
We can’t be sure how many people in the UK have a learning disability. The Department of Health estimates that there may be about 160,000 adults with severe and profound learning disabilities in England, and around 55,000 to 75,000 children with a moderate to severe learning disability. Some people with learning disabilities also have other disadvantages, such as physical disabilities, hearing or sight impairments.
In Britain a very important turning point in the history of learning disability services was the Government’s 1971 report ‘Better services for the Mentally Handicapped’ which drew attention to the very poor conditions in many hospitals. The response to the report led to a nationwide drive for ’Care in the Community’, and the closure and scaling down of hospitals so that people with a learning disability can lead normal lives, or normalisation.
‘Normalisation’ means that everybody is an individual entitled to make choices about how they live their lives. In 1990 the National Health and Community Care Act stated that people who have a disability have the right to extra support services according to their needs, and to be recognised as equal members of our society. Despite all these changes, across the UK people who have a learning disability do still experience discrimination and difficulties in finding employment, housing and getting access to leisure, education and health services.
In Medway, great progress has been made in modernising services but there is still much work to be done in changing attitudes and improving understanding.
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2 - Autism and Asperger’s Syndrome
Autism is a disability. It is sometimes called an ‘invisible’ disability because it affects the way a person develops intellectually and emotionally. Autism can be mild, moderate or severe but in each case generally affects the way a person communicates and relates to people around them, and their awareness of others. This means that children and adults with autism tend to have problems in making and keeping friends and may not have the ability to understand other people’s moods or emotions.
People with autism do not necessarily have a learning disability. They are not physically disabled either so they look just like anybody else. The invisible nature of autism can make it difficult to understand the condition and the difficulties experienced by people with autism. According to the National Autistic Society, autistic spectrum disorders impact on the lives of more than 500,000 families across the UK. But the numbers might be higher, because there is no central register of people who have autism and many people might be undiagnosed.
Another feature of the invisible nature of autism is that is very difficult to raise awareness and understanding of the needs of people with autism and their carers, because the condition can be very varied and intangible, often explained away as unwanted, rude or anti social behaviours.
Asperger’s syndrome is the name given to one type of autism. People with Asperger’s syndrome might have noticeable difficulties in developing and keeping relationships, be poor communicators, lack social skills, and imagination. The disorder can be mild or severe and we might observe that someone with Asperger’s Syndrome follows obsessive routines and have enduring hobbies and interests in one topic or subject.
One of the ways that a person with Asperger’s Syndrome might stand out is through their inability to read or understand body language or non-verbal cues and what others might consider to be appropriate body space.
Although people with Asperger’s Syndrome are likely to have normal or high IQ’s they are likely to have difficulty getting and holding down a job – about 5% of those with autistic spectrum disorder have paid full time work.
Some of the traits of Aspergers Syndrome might be viewed as ‘strengths’ in certain employment settings e.g. a strong drive for order and clarity, good at routines and procedures, staying power in focused or single topics, a tendency to be literal and unemotional in interpreting language and behaviours. Many people with Asperger’s Syndrome possess exceptional skills and knowledge.
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3 - People with High Support Needs
The Valuing Medway People Partnership Board is trying to develop good local services for all people with a learning disability. This includes individuals with High Support needs.
The White Paper “Valuing People” states:
Good quality services will ensure that people with additional and complex needs are appropriately cared for so that their needs are well managed and they lead fulfilling lives
This includes people who:
- have severe and profound disabilities (including those with sensory impairments);
- have epilepsy;
- have an autistic spectrum disorder and also a learning disability;
- present with behaviour that challenges their carers and service providers;
- develop conditions associated with old age
The Valuing Medway People Partnership Board has already developed a local Further Education and accommodation service for people with a severe learning disability and challenging behaviour.
The Valuing Medway People Partnership Board is planning to develop local services for people with physical and learning disabilities.
The Valuing Medway People Partnership Board works in partnership with Royal Association for the Deaf and there is a local advisor for deaf people with a learning disability.
His name is Ken Dudley.
There have been presentations to the Valuing Medway People Partnership Board about how we can work better with people with sensory impairments and a group is looking at how we communicate better with people. This group is led by Kathy Johnson.
There is a specialist Epilepsy Nurse working in Medway improving the lives of people with learning disability. He works with the neurologists based at the Medway Hospital. He is called Sean Seale.
There is a lot more work needed to improve services for people with high support needs. A group is being set up to find out how we can do this better and will report to the “Valuing Medway People” Partnership Board in July 2006.
Making it happen!
Meeting notes
Useful reading