Welcome back!
I am writing this blog in a slightly delicate state after our success at the Sutton Business Awards, where we picked up an award for 'Business Innovation' and was commended in the 'Best New Business'. We are immensely proud at our achievements but we are under no illusions that this is just the beginning of the work we are trying to do and the differences we want to make to the lives of people with learning disabilities.
We were chatting at the awards and it became clear that although the innovation award was very apt for the work we are undertaking, however it could and probably should actually be renamed the 'Revolution Award'.
The organisation was set up a year ago with a clear aim of changing the way society views people with learning disabilities. It was our belief that things were going backwards and this last year, in our opinion, has proved that nothing has changed to alter this view.
We are in the fortunate position whereby we can look at the situation objectively without the 'red tape' and politics which has woven a complicated web through the heart of the world of learning disabilities.
The introduction of personalisation was meant to offer more choice and control to the people who are entitled a personal budget. Although there has been success stories, with people being able to utilise their personal budget to access quality services like our organisation, they are few and far between.
Many day centres have closed which has resulted in huge savings for local governments, and although in many respects I do not disagree with these closures, they have not been adequately replaced with much, let alone quality services. Day centres have long been criticised for not offering a good service for the people who attend and in my experience this is not too dissimilar to what I have witnessed in the past (although this is not the case with every day centre I have visited). Something did need to change, but it has not been handled well by the majority of local councils, resulting in many people sitting at home bored and ignored. I imagine there has been a fair few quid saved though by councils who have tasked with trimming the financial fat, with learning disabilities being a relatively easy target.
The new 'fashion' seems to be offer services out in the community, which on paper sounds encouraging, however what is being offered is poor. Charities and other organisations are being encouraged to offer their services in community buildings such as church halls and old scout huts. Now, I don't know about you, but if someone told me that if I was 'allowed' to access a service it would be in a random building that could change location on a week by week basis then I would feel a bit short changed. How can one expect to receive a quality service if the building is not equipped to provide this. The majority of the trainees we work with need consistency and a safe secure environment to develop the confidence and skills they need. It is nothing more than a money saving exercise wrapped up in the notion that engaging with community is what is best for the service users. Hanging out in a church hall for a couple of hours is not engaging by any stretch of the imagination, it is nothing more than a day centre on the road.
When the concept of personalisation initially introduced it was very exciting and people assumed there would be a wave of new diverse, quality organisations starting up. This has simply not been the case and we are one of very few trying to make our way through the quagmire of personalisation. To say this has been hard would be a huge understatement ... the financial and emotional burden has been overwhelming. There is simply no incentive for organisations to start up a service for people with learning disabilities, we had to fight every single step of the way. After hundreds of emails and phone calls to social services with very little by way of a response can be demoralising to say the least.
Eventually a couple of people within the social services team took notice and realised that we were offering a good quality service and made referrals to us. Many people within the social work team did not have a strong grasp of personalisation and how it could be implemented with their clients. This is simply not good enough, because the only people who suffer are the people we want to support.
For too long 'learning disabilities' has been on the fringes of the social care world. It's time for people to stand up and demand more. Councils need to start investing in people by actually offering the choice and control to the people they are meant to serve. Tokenistic services need to be abolished and faith needs to be put in organisations like ours who's agenda is nothing more than offering the best possible opportunities for people with learning disabilities. Egos and internal politics need to be put to one side and allow services like ours to flourish and in turn hopefully inspire others to set up community interest companies and social enterprises.
The choice and control needs to wrestled from the suits in ivory towers and given to the people who matter.
A change needs to happen people ... please share this with people who you think may be interested and support us in our campaign to make personalisation personal.
Thanks for reading
Nickel Support
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