Reasonable Adjustments should be made
đź’śPro-Active Community welcomed Rachel Tucker from Surrey County Council and Brigitte from the NHS to discuss social services, safeguarding issues and concerns adults with learning disability face when needing mental health support.
🤝Their main reason for asking experts with lived experience was to improve their practices, to understand first hand what is difficult and how their teams can make appointments less stressful, reduce anxiety, streamline processes, and use formats suitable for everyone.
🗣️Members shared their own stories and brought such knowledge of how small adjustments improve experiences.
✅Jenny explained, “Meeting me in reception helps, I don’t have to find the room on my own then”
✅“Signs are confusing, I can’t read so pictures really mean I don’t need to ask for so much help” Michael reminded
✅“The appointments are frightening if you don’t know who you’re seeing - a photo before can help, of the person and the building or room” Matthew suggested
✅“Bright lights make me very confused and anxious” Leanne said
🦶Genuine steps to improving practices are only going to happen by having these open dialogues in trusted settings with facilitators who know the participants well.
đź’śA really significant amount of change is possible when everyone comes together in this way.
🤝Co-production of all services should be mandatory, you can only know for sure what does or doesn’t work by asking those the services are intended for.
