RNIB Redhill had students with a wide range of disability all of whom were able to live as a community with a little help fron the house staff and a lot of help from each other. The mixed disability residential programme was ended in 2007 due to withdrawal of education funding on the basis that teaching life skills was not academic enough.
Although RNIB Redhill College was set up as a day centre for the sight-impaired the college became a centre of excellence for teaching a wide range of disabled students life skills through their mixed disability residential programme that ended in 2007 following the loss of government funding.
I believe that the Redhill community is a viable model for mixed disability, assisted living, long term accommodation which could be self funding from the benefits and earnings of the residents forming a safe haven for those who would be at risk due to mental or physical disability if on their own in a general purpose flat or house.
Surely it would be possible to fund similar residential centres within towns around the country where mixed ability people could live and learn from each other but also interact with the wider community.
I have created a list of organisations that might help realise this dream in the blog at: http://nigeles.blogspot.com/2010/12/directory-of-care-organisations.html
If you can think of others please let me know
It would be great if readers lobbied their MPs about the need to provide for assisted living for those with special needs
There is also a facebook group on disability care in the UK at https://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_183851574958756&ap=1
I have created a list of organisations that might help realise this dream in the blog at: http://nigeles.blogspot.com/2010/12/directory-of-care-organisations.html
If you can think of others please let me know
It would be great if readers lobbied their MPs about the need to provide for assisted living for those with special needs
There is also a facebook group on disability care in the UK at https://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_183851574958756&ap=1
3 comments:
Sounds good. A little ambition could go a long way - cooperative/mutualism models for shared employment and income could really work without more funding, perhaps. People do form earnings coops and take joint decisions.
http://www.peoplefirstltd.com/ - if you don't know about them, they are worth looking at; a campaigning and support group run by and for people with learning disabilities. I am not at all sure that they are moving in this residential/coop direction - but it may prove it is possible.
Kathy
But how do we get it going?
I've tried MPs (David Evennett who takes the uncaring Tory line and hence has no interest in the special needs community), Councillors, doctors, social services, charities, education authorities, health authorities and local authority officials.
The problem is that what care there is for mental and physical special needs is very fragmented coming from all of the bodies I've listed above.
RNIB Redhill when it was operating as a mixed special needs community was just the right size and mix of people but its educational aims were centred on living skills and not the academic targets and certificates that were the requirement for government funding. It is for this reason that it was all destroyed and is now merely a day centre for the sight impaired. Without external funding RNIB had no choice as the sight impaired is the group that contributors to RNIB intend to help.
If there was a single special needs third sector body that combined all the possible sources of help outlined above then it would be easier but third sector and even government bodies seem to be more interested in competing than cooperating.
Nigel
Assisted living is even more important as the cut backs in Europe take hold. Any pointers to effective pressure groups would be most welcome
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