I am a Secondary school teacher teaching Health and social care and looking for advice and education for school.
I am interested to know how Social/Voluntary and Informal care can meet needs of adults with Learning Disabilities particularly those in residential care
Any advice on how these 3 services can support would be great or if there is anyone willing to chat further I would really appreciate it
Hi feel free to call me as I’ve been in the systems now for 30 years with my son. Email first jofms@hotmail.co.uk I can then give you my mobile number if this would be helpful
There are very few people with LD on this forum. Since they are the people you need to speak to about *their* needs, and *their* experiences around relying on volunteers, perhaps you would get a better understanding from talking to organisations like Mencap or the Down's syndrome Association, who have 'our voice' groups made up of people with LD. Hopefully I am teaching you to suck eggs and you have already done this and are just wanting secondary opinions from informal carers.
This approach would, of course, also illustrate an important lesson for your students 'nothing about us, without us'.
There is lots of interesting information around transformation on the SCIE website:
scie.org.uk/transforming-care/
Or TLAP:
thinklocalactpersonal.org.u...
There are lots of parents on here too who advocate for their children who maybe can’t speak for themselves .
I'm not sure what your point is BenjiB? The voice of the learning disabled must be central surely? If people can communicate themselves they must be given that opportunity over their parents giving their personal views. The poster does not mention asking the people with LD themselves. Undoubtably there are parents on here who advocate for their adult offspring who can actually speak for themselves but never get asked.
My point is the previous poster said you need to talk to people themselves which of course you do if they are able to . My point was that this is a good place to ask as there are many parents with young people that cannot and our views are just as important!
I disagree that your views are 'just as' important as the person with disabilities - because your views are not the views of the person with LD. You can have a best guess at what your loved one thinks and feels but you might not be right, or you may have ulterior motives etc. While the views of advocates are important to a lesser or greater extent, they can never be as valid as the views of the disabled person themselves and this needs acknowledging.
Well we can agree to disagree then! My son deserves a voice and I’m it. I have a very good understanding of him and know what makes him happy and what doesn’t, what works for him services wise and what doesn’t etc. I’m his voice and if he can’t verbalise I’ll do it for him to the best of my ability.
Agree, only just seen this post. I think what some people do not realise, is that it's not just the inability to speak, for which many like my son have been introduced to a variety of communication devices, but more importantly, its the inability to understand receptive language, many have the understanding of pre-schoolers ( my son diagnosed at the level of an 18 month when 17yrs ) and are just as vulnerable, and as such they are totally reliant on parents speaking out on their behalf, in their best interest, who else knows them better. I would hope some 'our voice' LD groups include parents of such individuals so that they too are represented and not forgotten as often seems to be the case.
It really depends where you are in the UK? Ideally Carers that in it for the long haul but due to minimum wage being paid by councils and cost cutting this is sadly not the case.
hi my daughter is in residential care, where do you live please.
Private / consultant social worker needed !
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