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BME People Lose Out Across Scotland
People from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities are less likely to get a service than people from a White Scottish background.
While the census shows that that BME people make up 5.2% of the Scottish population, the national database on learning disability, ESAY show only 1.24% of people with learning disabilities are from a BME background.
There are some wide regional variations.
Many BME communities are well established in Scotland and are likely to have a similar incidence of learning disability in the population. As a result there has been a lack of clarity about what is going on. Fortunately a recent report from the Action Group on their work with people with learning disabilities has helped to provide some explanations.
BEMAS Transitions has worked with 50 young adults and their families since 2011. This is one of the largest projects of its kind in Scotland. The project was to help young people to set goals and to try and make them happen. In so doing, they would learn more about the barriers that people from BME communities face.
What they found makes worrying reading. Among the key barriers the project found were:
Lack of Access to Information and Support - Almost all disabled people and their families have a problem knowing what services and supports are available. This is made worse for people from BME communities. Some have English as a second language. Others have come from another country with very different social infrastructure systems and different terminology. Previous experiences of discrimination when using other services has made others fearful of dealing with a new organisation.
After a few weeks of fun what will the games leave behind?
Dozens of people with learning disabilities carried the commonwealth baton in different parts of Scotland as the whole country joined in the build up. 
But what will happen after the Commonwealth Games for other people with learning disabilities. We know some people with profound disabilities will be moving to stay in the Commonwealth Village. The new housing will be adapted to have the right equipment and layout to support some of our most vulnerable citizens.
But a long running sore in Glasgow concerning the Accord Centre still remains to be sorted. Despite an energetic campaign, the centre was demolished to build a car and coach park for the 4 week period of the games.
People who used the Accord moved temporarily to a local community centre and were promised that space would be created in the new Aquatic Centre after the games were finished.
The Scottish Government said they would put up £150,000 to make this happen. But now Glasgow City Council say they only agreed to provide enhanced disabled access to Tollcross, which they say has been achieved with the installation of changing facilities, height adjustable benches and electric hoists.
Still Waiting for Health and Social Care Integration.
Last year’s buzz was Self Directed Support—It was going to change everyone’s life by letting them have more control over their own lives. Now as the results turn out to be much more mundane. Most people end up with exactly the same service or just less of it, the buzz is now Health and Social Care integration. Surely if we all work together then that will make things better.
It all sounds a bit desperate to us and already stories are emerging of exactly how poor health and social work are at working together.
While she is ready to go home, she is stuck in Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital as Fife Council has told her family that they won’t fund care for her at home. She previously lived in her own home with support but will now need much more support.
She may have to face going into a care home. We have heard similar stories from South Lanarkshire and other areas. Of course, many people are now worried integration will just be a short cut for taking people from community placements and steering them into inappropriate care home placements.
To add insult to injury, guess who was responsible for not fixing the broken kerb that caused Kathleen’s accident – Fife Council!
People like having control but it doesn't improve outcomes
In a surprising move, the UK government will not roll out a scheme to provide disabled people with integrated personal budgets after an evaluation found no evidence of improved outcomes.
Incoming minister for disabled people Mark Harper announced the decision not to roll out the Right to Control scheme in a written statement to Parliament last week.
Right to Control was designed to enable disabled people to pool resources from up to six funding streams – adult social care, Supporting People, Independent Living Fund, Disabled Facilities Grant, Work Choice and Access to Work – and exercise choice and control over how the combined budget was spent. It was tested in seven “trailblazer” areas from 2010-2013.
An evaluation published last year found outcomes for people using Right to Control, in relation to choice and control and wellbeing, were similar to people in a control group who were not using the scheme, meaning there was no evidence of positive impact.
The main suggested reasons for the lack of impact was that, in practice, Right to Control did not work as intended, and many service users received the same service they would have done before.
“While the evaluation of this pilot may not have resulted in any measurable impact on outcomes, it was popular with those individuals who exercised their right to control and they valued the greater flexibilities it gave them. It also acted as a catalyst to developing local relationships and partnerships,” the minister said.
Congratulations to the Us and Housing Group
One of LDAS's members has won a very important award for their work on harassment and bullying. There were winners of the 2014 Frances Nelson MBE Awards in Tayside.
Us and Housing are a group of people with learning disabilities who came together in June 2011 at a conference to discuss housing issues. The conference showed that people suffered daily discrimination which led to group to work with Perth & Kinross Council to produce an educational DVD and learning resources to challenge injustice and inequality. The DVD titled ‘It Goes On and On and On’ is a series of short dramas that explore and expose the discrimination faced by people with learning disabilities. A clip from the DVD can be viewed on the TIS website at www.tis.org.uk.
