Learning disabilities
Guest blogger, Simon Duffy, has made a significant contribution to work on self-directed support, personal budgets and putting people in control. Citizenship and inclusion are the cornerstones of social work. Making sure we are working with people with learning disabilities to achieve positive outcomes is imperative.
I am delighted to have a guest blog from my social work colleagues in Bradford and people with whom they work. Together they have made great progress in making sure people with learning disabilities achieve citizenship inclusion outcomes in many ways, but very importantly, through exercising their right to vote.
It’s been ten years since BBC Panorama exposed the Winterbourne View scandal. At the British Association of Social Workers (BASW England), Liz Howard explains how they are taking action to make sure human rights abuses suffered by people with learning disabilities and autistic people are never forgotten. Homes not hospitals is a central part of their campaign.
Lyn Romeo has just returned to her role as Chief Social Worker for Adults, alongside Fran Leddra, following time out to care for her elderly mother who sadly died recently following a long illness. On returning to the role, Lyn finds it highly fitting for her first blog, to be posted during Carers Week.
Jo Barnicoat works for a small charity, Oxfordshire Family Support Network (OXFSN), supporting families with learning disabilities. Like everyone else, she and her colleagues have had to develop a totally new way of working. However, this enforced change has actually enabled professionals and families to communicate much more efficiently and speedily.
Understanding what is important to adults with learning disabilities and/or autism helps practitioners and organisations make meaningful contributions to their lives and those around them. BASW's Liz Howard explains how new capabilities statement resources provide social workers with the means to capture the voices and experiences of people and families to shape our learning, development and growth as a profession.
It's Learning Disability Week. BASW (the British Association of Social Workers) and SCIE (the Social Care Institute for Excellence) have launched new resources to support the capabilities of social workers in their work with autistic adults and adults with learning disabilities. These resources are freely available on the BASW website and will support individuals and organisations to implement the capabilities statements and CPD pathways.
