Health and Social Care

• First find out how best to communicate with the person. If the person is accompanied by a carer, talk directly to the person with learning disabilities (including the use of signs and symbols), rather than to their carer, personal assistant or advocate.
  
  
• Ask the person what support, if any, they need (for example, do they need an interpreter or advocate?).
  
  
• Don't patronise the person, and don't speak to adults with learning disabilities as if they are children.
  
  
• Avoid the use of jargon, and use plain language with familiar words and short sentences.
  
  
• Check for understanding and be prepared to repeat information if requested.
  
  
• Provide time and opportunities for questions.
  
  
• Some people with learning disabilities will also have sensory impairments. They should be asked about their preferred communication and support.
  
  
• Some people may welcome information provided on audiotape, which they can replay at a later stage as often as necessary.
  
  
• It can be useful to support verbal or written information with drawing or pictures.
  
  
• Some people with learning disabilities communicate using a system of signs and symbols such as Makaton.

• The absence of information that is accessible.
  
  
• The absence of support and assistance, usually provided by other people, rather than by aids and appliances.
  
  
• The small number of people with a learning disability living in any community, which can lead to their “voices” and needs being overshadowed by the numbers and “voices” and needs of others.
  
  
• The complexity of needs which may require imaginative, creative responses to individual needs and circumstances.
  
  
• The absence of an accessible, low cost transport system to allow the use of escorts, where necessary.
  
  
• The absence of “joined up thinking” between Public Authorities whose policies and services impact on their lives.
  
  
• People with a learning disability who also have a physical or sensory disability experience the same barriers faced by other disabled people.
  
  
• For people with a mild or moderate learning disability, their increasing exclusion from services by the tightening of eligibility criteria compounds the disadvantage they experience as a result of their disability.
  
  
• For carers of children and adults with a learning disability, the priority of providing a lifetime of care and support, with few or no breaks available, clearly impacts on their employment and career prospects, their personal and family life and their involvement in local community activities.
  
  
• Children and adults with a learning disability use a range of health and personal social services, including generic services, specialist services, services delivered through programmes of care as well as specialist learning disability services.
  
  
• A number of reports have shown that, despite being more likely than the rest of the population to have clear health needs, people with a learning disability are not securing equal access, including access to screening and other health services.

(Source: N&W Belfast Health and Social Services Trust. Draft Equality Scheme: Comments by Mencap in NI)