New Terminology for Language Impairments
After years of confusion, there is now international agreement (in the English-speaking world) about what to call ‘unexplained language difficulties’. While the term Language Disorder is retained, Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) will replace the term Specific Language Impairment (SLI). I am grateful to the charity Afasic for alerting me to this change via its winter […]
Channel 4 Documentary: Under Lock and Key (Wed 1st March, 10pm)
A preview ‘ad’ on Channel 4 last night alerted me to an upcoming documentary ‘Under Lock and Key’ to be screened on Wednesday (1st March) at 10pm, which might be more rewarding viewing than the news. The program’s page on the Channel 4 website describes it thus: “How best can suitable care be provided for […]
DRUK publishes its submission to DWP’s Green Paper “Improving Lives”
Just received from Disability Rights UK (DRUK): a copy of its response to the DWP’s Work, Health and Disability Green Paper “Improving Lives”. In it DRUK makes 25 recommendations for halving the disability employment gap consultation. DRUK begins by listing its ‘Top Ten’ priority recommendations.
Uncoordinated regulation of shared accommodation for ‘vulnerable people’
I’ll fess up: as the father of an autistic son in supported living in a Housing Association multi-unit property, I had no idea that my son’s housing was regulated by the Homes and Communities Agency. I noted the following exchange (Parliamentary Question and Answer) and thought ‘Why, when it comes to learning disability, is every […]
Consultation on Funding for Supported Housing: Feedback being considered.
In November 2016, the Government announced a consultation on its ‘Funding for Supported Housing’ proposals, linked to its ‘evidence review of supported accommodation’ launched late 2015. The departments involved were i) the Department for Communities and Local Government and ii) the Department for Work and Pensions, and the consultation was described as covering Welfare Reform […]
More on Interim Report on Named Social Worker pilot scheme…
(Please regard this news post as an addendum to the post on the same issue from a few days ago. It contains more detail – and to be honest the previous post was issued in a hurry partly to test the automatic linkage of Rescare’s website, Facebook and Twitter – which seems to be working!) […]
CQC and its Regulatory Role (FFPR for Directors of Providers)
I feel like I’m being bombarded via tweets and emails from various parties, including the CQC, on the issue of the CQC and the regulation of care services, with many parties having opinions on the (in)effectiveness of the CQC in its various regulatory functions i.e. its fitness for purpose. Some ask whether it is adequately […]
An Important Report on Welfare Cases in the Court of Protection
Having been trailed by amongst others one of its co-authors, Lucy Series (author of the excellent blog on the law and learning disability, The Small Places ) and Alex Ruck Keene (of 39 Essex Street Chambers ,and overall a Court of Protection ‘guru’), this week has seen the publication of a highly significant research report […]
The 6% sticking point. MPs debate learning disabilities and employment levels.
What steps the Government are taking to ensure that people with learning difficulties are supported into work? “Governments of all persuasions have tried and failed to shift the employability rate of those with learning disabilities from 6%. That rate is an absolute waste of the huge amounts of talent and enthusiasm that are out there.” […]
Dodgy and defensible cuts
Just ‘recovering’ from the January webinar from Belinda Schwehr… on the Care Act, Reviews, Revisions and Reassessments. Important, informative stuff but it makes your brain hurt. Webinars details are on Belinda’s blog website www.schwehroncare.co.uk . The webinars are protected intellectual property; but for once, and because some of the content is so jaw-dropping, Belinda has […]