Despite an increasing body of research evidence that demonstrates the ongoing health inequalities experienced by people with learning disabilities, there have been few changes in policy and practice.
In her debut blog, Rosalyn Hithersay presents a paper that describes a series of workshops that took place in 2013 with the aim of addressing this shift from evidence to action.
[read the full story...]
Jill Manthorpe provides an in-depth commentary on a study looking at trends in older people’s perceptions of poverty, necessity and deprivation, drawing out implications for social care practice and the Care Act 2014.
[read the full story...]
Parents with learning disabilities face numerous difficulties as we have reported elsewhere, but how much does the mindset of the staff supporting them impact on the quality of working alliances and the speed at which parents seek help?
Here in her debut blog, Fawn Harrad looks at a study that involved both parents and their support staff to look at these issues.
Ian Cummins adds to current political debates about poverty and social justice as he explores Canadian research on the topic that captured the experiences and views of people with mental health problems who actually live in poverty.
[read the full story...]
People with learning disabilities need to be able to talk about sexuality, sex and relationships, but often this opportunity is denied or is heavily influenced by existing social and cultural norms.
In this, her debut blog, Michelle Gregory looks at a paper which reports on how one self advocacy group tackled this issue and how they disseminated their findings.
[read the full story...]
Local authorities have the responsibility for the organisation of adult safeguarding in England.
Here Ruth Northway looks at a literature review of the organisation of adult safeguarding services which set out to look at the characteristics of safeguarding practice.
[read the full story...]
Down syndrome is the most common cause of learning disability in the UK and life expectancy has shown a dramatic increase in the last fifty years. However, people with Down syndrome face significant health issues.
In this blog, GP Matt Hoghton looks at a recent clinical review published in the BMJ, which provides advice and guidance on managing care and support for people with Down syndrome.
[read the full story...]
Hannah Morgan from the Centre for Disability Research at Lancaster University takes a critical look at a Swedish study on leisure and people with learning disabilities and discusses what the findings mean for the UK context.
[read the full story...]
Adults with Williams syndrome are said to have a highly social personality, but can find it difficult to form and maintain relationships.
Here we report on a recent observational study which compared parent and self-report measures of social behaviour to observations of real life social situations.
[read the full story...]
In her exploration of a Canadian study into extra care housing for older disabled people, Jo Moriatry gives a critical view of the research and offers some insights into what it means for the UK policy and practice context.
[read the full story...]
