Thanks to Steve Comerford for comments on my enquiry about aids to
self-assesment. Some notes in reply:
It would be rash to claim that W. Sussex will buck trends and provide
genuine needs-led assessments, but there is at least some
awareness of the problem and a wish to do better. You have to start
somewhere. Let me know if you have found a Local Authority that has
got it right - we could all learn from them.
We are inviting 'them' (the users of the Direct Payments Scheme and
other disabled people) to contribute to developing the scheme
and promoting Independent Living. In the long run we would like to see a
user-led organisation running the show. However, W. Sussex
does not have a history of extensive 'user participation' - a
history we are trying to turn round, I might say - and as yet there is
no well-constituted organisation of disabled people to take a
lead. Within Social Services, we are trying to encourage the emergence
of such a body, but it takes time. How long the the Coventry
Independent Living Group take to grow into an effective body, and was it
'established' by the Local Authority or did it develop
organically as an opposition voice?
I certainly don't accept the status quo, nor the assumption that
clients have to remain disempowered. That is the point of the
enquiry. I am in touch with the NCIL and have had very helpful contacts
with other CILs and Personal Assistance Schemes (including
your own!). However, it still seems to me that there is not a lot of
readily accessible material around that can support individual -
and sometimes isolated - disabled people in negotiating on their
own behalf in the Assessment process. The fact that we are trying to
find (or develop) some is itself at least a gesture in the
direction of empowerment.
More generally, we could do with a discussion forum on the Internet
specifically for topics around Direct Payments / Independent Living
/ Personal Assistance Schemes. As you imply, there is a lot of sound
knowledge and experience about which could be shared more
effectively than it is at present. I don't suppose you know of one, do
you Steve?
Many thanks for taking up the topic. I'll try and catch up with you at the
next NCIL conference.
Regards,
Barry
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