A better way to communicate with people with learning disabilities

We were supporting a patient to choose a new home once discharged. He kept referring to it as his 'placement'. This got us reflecting on why is he calling it 'placement'. On reflection it's because this is a term we use everyday and its a professional word and are we dehumanising him?

So a group of us came together to see how we can improve things, because we believe that words have power. We are working in co-production with the 'Can You Understand It?' and ResearchNet in Greenwich.

We decided to make a charter for communicating with people with learning disabilities in Bexley, Bromley and Greenwich. You can help us by making suggestions by adding a comment on this blog. Some examples are:



Placement = Home
Care Programme Approach (CPA) = your meeting
Capacity = your choice

Its about using everyday words that actually mean something to the person and not what professionals feel that the need to use jargon. We are going to have an event to launch the charter.

Georgina Murry-Fry              
Lee Walker
Steve Hardy

Adult Learning Disability Service
Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust