Category Archives: disability

Council boss ‘appalled’ after elderly woman left on bus overnight

May 6, 2012   Alzheimer’s, Carers, disability, Older care

How could this have happened

MISSING: The woman should have been returned to Jill Jenkins Court

THE chief executive of Luton Borough Council has described an incident in which an elderly woman with Alzheimer’s was left locked in a minbus overnight as “appalling”.

Trevor Holden said the council deeply regretted the distress caused to the woman and her family, adding: “We are deeply shocked that something has gone so seriously wrong.”

The woman, who is in her 80s, was left on the council minibus at the Kingsway depot on Monday night at 5.30pm, and was not discovered until 7am the following morning.

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Disability does not mean inability

May 6, 2012   Carers, disability, learning difficulties, Wales
Forever Remembered
Posted by

‘Disability does not mean inability’ this was the mantra from disability rights campaigner and trustee of Cardiff People First, Peter Lewis. I first met Peter while working for TPAS Cymru some 10-12 years ago. He was a passionate campaigner for portraying people not as disabled, but enabled to live with a physical or mental challenge in their lives. Although Peter was born with a learning disability, he believed that individuals living with a medical condition should be empowered to get involved in choices about their care and support, rather than being isolated recipients of it.

His death last week was a tragedy for his family, friends and colleagues, but more so for the people he had yet to influence. Peter died after being stabbed in Roath, Cardiff on the 28th April. Police have arrested and charged a man in connection with his death.

http://tenantsunitedotorg.wordpress.com

 

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What service users want from social workers

May 3, 2012   Carers, Depression, disability, mental health, social workers
Good social workers are essential
Peter Beresford
Friday 27 April 2012 15:43

What do service users want from social workers? Social work academic and mental health service user Peter Beresford says that research points to four crucial qualities. He will be speaking about the future of adult social work at Community Care Live on 16 May.

 

The crucial importance of the social work relationship

Above all else the evidence highlights that service users value the relationship that they have with social workers. It is seen as the crucial starting point for getting help and support on equal terms; for working with rather than on people. Service users talk of relationships based on warmth, empathy reliability and respect. It is the antithesis of form-filling approaches to assessment, which reduce the contact between service users and practitioners to a formulaic and bureaucratic contact.

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