People with physical disabilities
People experiencing ill-health, limited mobility or sensory impairments (deafness, blindness etc.) are disabled when their participation in society is limited due to physical or social barriers.
Many Transformation Fund projects included learners with physical disabilities, sometimes in association with learners who had learning disabilities as well.
Projects aimed to:
- give a voice to disabled people in planning, developing and evaluating a range of services - Shaping Places, Expert Patients Informal Learning
- improve accessibility and support for learners with disabilities, raising awareness among learning providers and the community - Water Works , Growing Places
Transformation Fund projects opened up new learning opportunities to people with a range of physical disabilities, enabling them to try out new activities, develop new skills and also to influence people who make decisions about services that disabled people use.
- Many people with disabilities experience prejudice and discrimination, and even harassment and abuse. Inclusive informal adult and community learning (ACL) can change attitudes by helping other people in the community get to know people with disabilities. It focuses on what they can achieve rather than what they can't do.
- People living with disabilities are experts on their own conditions. Informal ACL can support them to make their voice heard and help improve accessibility of services.
- Many successful projects were based on partnerships between learning providers and organisations that had other expertise. Working together with disability organizations enables learning providers to reach potential learners and gain access to specialist knowledge.
- Some organisations invested in equipment that improved accessibility and this will continue to benefit other learners with disabilities in the future.
- Staff involved in facilitating informal adult learning for people with disabilities need specific training to ensure that the learning offer is inclusive. Several projects provided disability equality awareness-raising, and others included specific training sessions such as deaf awareness and sign language.
You can help break down misunderstandings and prejudices by providing inclusive learning opportunities, so that people with physical disabilities can learn together with others in their community. However providing appropriate support can be expensive, and at the moment informal adult and community learning providers cannot access the additional learning support budget. Partnership working with specialist disability organisations can bring in specialist knowledge and may also provide support staff or volunteers, to help keep costs down. Remember CRB checks may be required and this takes time.
Key points for success include:
- consulting the people with disabilities who are your potential learners, at the start;
- providing appropriate training for your staff, including sessional workers, in disability equality and appropriate communication skills;
- taking into account accessibility and support needs in all your planning, so barriers to learning are removed;
- focusing on what people have the potential to achieve, and enabling them to do that.
Disability has been defined as 'the disadvantage experienced by an individual as a result of barriers (attitudinal, physical, etc.) that impact on people with impairments and /or ill health'. (Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People, 2005)
An impairment is a long-term characteristic which affects an individual's functioning and may give rise to pain, fatigue, communication difficulties etc. Sensory impairments such as blindness, partial sight or deafness, and limited mobility resulting from birth conditions, long-term illness or injuries, become disabling when they limit participation as an equal in society, due to physical or social barriers.
In the 2001 Census, one in six people in the UK (10.3 million) living in a private household reported having a limiting long-term illness. Rates increased with age, from less than 10% of under 30s, to around 40% for people aged 60-74.
Successive governments have enshrined the rights of disabled people within legislation and have sought to develop inclusive policy and practice. Adult learning can make a positive contribution to the lives of people with physical disabilities, offering a second chance for people whose first experience of education was limited by their disability, and acting as a lifeline in cases where a person's disability leads to social isolation.
Our Findings
Web Links
Improving the LIfe Chances of Disabled People
the 2005 document 'Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People' by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
Learning for Living and Work
The 2006 'Learning for Living and Work' Learning and Skills Council (LSC) strategy document.
