Written evidence submitted by Sense
INQUIRY INTO
THE PROVISION
OF SERVICES
BEYOND SCHOOL/COLLEGE
DAY FOR
YOUNG PEOPLE,
PRIMARILY THOSE
AGED 13-25
1. Sense is the leading national charity that
supports and campaigns for children and adults who are Deafblind/MSI
(Multi Sensory Impaired). We provide expert advice and information
as well as specialist services to Deafblind/MSI people, their
families, carers and the professionals who work with them. In
addition, we support people who have sensory impairments with
additional disabilities.
2. We welcome the opportunity to respond to this
inquiry into services for young people outside school. Young people
who are Deafblind/MSI do not get the same opportunities to take
part in these activities and their local community as their peers
because of a lack of the necessary one to one support.
The relationship between universal and targeted
services for young people
How services for young people can meet the Government's
priorities for volunteering, including the role of the National
Citizen Service
3. Services for young people can be run with
an ethos that encourages community thinking and volunteering.
Deafblind/MSI young people have as much to add as their peers
but in order for them to be able to take part in this there needs
to an understanding of how to make adjustments to ensure that
their communication and mobility needs are met.
4. Without an interpreter or the one to one support
they need there would be no way for Deafblind/MSI young people
to take part in group activities. Young people who are Deafblind/MSI
have a statutory right to be assessed by local authorities under
the Deafblind Guidance and then receive the appropriate one to
one support to take part in activities outside school/college.
5. The Deafblind Guidance to local authorities
is issued under Section 7 of the Local Authority Social Services
Act 1970 and is called Social Care for Deafblind Children and
Adults (LAC 2001 (8)). This means that local authorities must
identify deafblind people living in their area; carry out a specialist
assessment of their needs; ensure that they receive specialist
services; make sure they can access properly trained one to one
support; provide information in accessible formats and identify
a senior manager who is responsible for ensuring the Deafblind
guidance is implemented.
6. The Deafblind Guidance is not generally well
implemented by local authorities for children and young people
and they made need to support from service providers to ensure
they are assessed and get the one to one support they need, to
enable them to take part in activities.
Which young people access services, what they
want from those services and their role in shaping provision
7. Many Deafblind/MSI young people struggle to
take part in services outside school/college because they do not
have the support they need. The Deafblind guidance requires local
authorities to identify Deafblind people, assess their needs and
provide them with the one to one support they need and this needs
to be fully implemented Any agencies working to deliver these
services must ensure they are inclusive and develop in a way that
is driven by the young people themselves.
The relative roles of voluntary, community, statutory
and private sectors in providing services for young people
The training and workforce development needs of
the sector
8. The training for the workforce in this sector
needs to include a section on how to ensure that young people
with disabilities are able to take part. This part of the training
should include a section on the needs of young people with low
incidence disabilities including deafblindness/MSI, part of which
should be on how to work with one to one support workers including
intervenors or communicator-guides.
Sense has produced an information pack for people
running activities outside school/college about how to include
Deafblind/MSI young people.
The impact of public sector spending cuts on funding
and commissioning of services, including how available resources
can best be maximised, and whether payment by results is desirable
and achievable
How local government structures and statutory
frameworks impact on service provision
9. The Deafblind Guidance should ensure that
local authorities address the specific needs of deafblind/MSI
young people, through identification, assessment and provision
of access to universal/targeted services or the development of
specialist services to enable young people to have an active and
equal life. This guidance is essential to ensure that young people's
needs are identified, valued and met.
How the value and effectiveness of services should
be assessed
10. There needs a target to measure whether services
are accessible to disabled children. This could be based on evidence
as to whether disabled children are having the opportunity to
take part in activities in the local area and what young disabled
people have to say about the activities.
December 2010
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