Understanding And Promoting Access For People With Learning Difficulties

The issue of access is at the forefront of the practical challenges facing people with learning difficulties and people working with or supporting them. This engaging text brings together evidence, narratives and discussions that question and advance our understanding of the concept of access for people with learning difficulties. Seale and Nind draw on their expertise to analyse a wide range of situations, including access to public spaces, citizenship education, community participation, and employment. Through a series of related chapters, key researchers in the field of inclusion and learning difficulties enrich the access debate by: considering what kind of access people with learning difficulties want; identifying effective practice in relation to facilitating and promoting access; revealing the capability of people with learning difficulties to seek and achieve access to potentially exclusionary communities; providing a space for a wide range of people to share access stories. With contributions from a variety of stakeholders including people with learning difficulties, Understanding and Promoting Access for People with Learning Difficulties clarifies the concept of access without over-simplifying what is involved. Through rigorous critique, this book provides a unique rationale for a new multi-dimensional model of access and ways of promoting it. Proposing a reconceptualisation of the risk associated with promoting access for people with learning difficulties, this book will be of immense interest to students, researchers and professionals involved in inclusion and disability issues.

The Routledge Companion to Severe, Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties is a timely and rich resource with contributions from writing teams of acknowledged experts providing a balance of both academic and practitioner perspectives. The book covers a myriad of topics and themes and has the core purpose of informing and supporting everyone who is interested in improving the quality of education and support for children and young adults with severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties and their families. Each chapter contains careful presentations and analyses of the findings from influential research and its practical applications and the book is a treasure chest of experiences, suggestions and ideas from practitioners that will be invaluable for many years to come. The chapters include many vignettes gathered from practitioners in the field and are written specifically to be rigorous yet accessible. The contributors cover topics related to the rights and needs of children and young adults from 0-25 years, crucial features of high quality education, characteristics of integrated provision and effective and sensitive working with families to ensure the best possible outcomes for their children. Crucially, the voice of the learners themselves shines through. Historical provision that has had an impact on developing services and modern legislation aimed at improving provision and services are also discussed. The contributed chapters are organised into six themed parts: Provision for learners with SLD/PMLD. Involving stakeholders. Priorities for meeting the personal and social needs of learners. Developing the curriculum. Strategies for supporting teaching and learning. Towards a new understanding of education for learners with SLD/PMLD. This text is an essential read for students on courses and staff working in and with the whole range of educational settings catering for children and young adults with severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties, not just for teachers but also for support staff, speech and language therapists, physiotherapists, psychologists, nurses, social workers and other specialists.

This book examines the role that technologies play in the lives of adults with learning disabilities. It analyses how design and support practices can be used to support access to technology in ways that can enhance opportunities and life experiences. Drawing on international literature and the author’s own research, the book considers what we know about past and present practices of supporting adults with learning disabilities to use technologies. It outlines how support practices can offer opportunities to overcome digital inequalities, offering a framework of core beliefs and knowledge that can inform future initiatives. The book has a particular focus on technologies, policies, practitioner communities and the characteristics of support practice. It also highlights the potential of people with learning disabilities, the potential of technology and the potential of the environment to support technology use. This important book will be highly relevant reading for academics, researchers and post-graduate students in the field of special educational needs and disabilities, digital education and learning technologies, inclusive education and social work.

What does it mean to live a good life? Why has it proved so difficult for people with intellectual disabilities to live one? What happens when we make a good life the centre of our consideration of people with intellectual disabilities? These questions are explored through a re-examination of ideas from philosophy and social theory, and through personal life stories. This important and timely book provides an analysis and critique of current policies and underpinning ideologies in relation to people with intellectual disabilities and explores ways in which a good life may be made more attainable.

Mainstream gerontological scholarship has taken little heed of people ageing with disability, and they have also been largely overlooked by both disability and ageing policies and service systems. The Handbook on Ageing with Disability is the first to pull together knowledge about the experience of ageing with disability. It provides a broad look at scholarship in this developing field and across different groups of people with disability in order to form a better understanding of commonalities across groups and identify unique facets of ageing within specific groups. Drawing from academic, personal, and clinical perspectives, the chapters address topics stemming from how the ageing with disability experience is framed, the heterogeneity of the population ageing with disability and the disability experience, issues of social exclusion, health and wellness, frailty, later life, and policy contexts for ageing with disability in various countries. Responding to the need to increase access to knowledge in this field, the Handbook provides guideposts for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers about what matters in providing services, developing programmes, and implementing policies that support persons ageing with long-term disabilities and their families.

The Handbook of Easy Languages in Europe describes what Easy Language is and how it is used in European countries. It demonstrates the great diversity of actors, instruments and outcomes related to Easy Language throughout Europe. All people, despite their limitations, have an equal right to information, inclusion, and social participation. This results in requirements for understandable language. The notion of Easy Language refers to modified forms of standard languages that aim to facilitate reading and language comprehension. This handbook describes the historical background, the principles and the practices of Easy Language in 21 European countries. Its topics include terminological definitions, legal status, stakeholders, target groups, guidelines, practical outcomes, education, research, and a reflection on future perspectives related to Easy Language in each country. Written in an academic yet interesting and understandable style, this Handbook of Easy Languages in Europe aims to find a wide audience.

Developments in online learning and its design are areas that continue to grow in order to enhance students’ learning environments and experiences. However, in the implementation of new technologies, the importance of properly and fairly overseeing these courses is often undervalued. Project Management Approaches for Online Learning Design boldly focuses on this unique area of virtual learning by adopting a theoretical point of view and discussing the planning, organizing, securing and managing of resources to bring about the successful completion of online learning goals and objectives. This reference source brings together project management based approaches with an exclusive focus on each online learning design project.

Learning Disabilities: Toward Inclusion (formerly edited by Bob Gates) is one of the leading textbooks in this field. It offers real ways to improve quality of experience for people with learning disabilities in all areas of life. This new edition brings together a comprehensive and coherent collection of material from eminent authors with a wealth of professional backgrounds and roles. Its contemporary focus reflects practice developments including the impact of changing policy and legislation on the nature and configuration of services. The leading textbook for carers of people with learning disabilities A comprehensive overview of the field of learning disabilities care Well-written accessible content Activities, case studies, diagrams and further resources including useful web links the embedding of key themes across chapters to draw diverse material into an integrated whole. These are: person-centredness, values, the reality of practice, the range of ability, the range of services and national and international perspectives. chapters on advocacy, personal narratives and life story, inclusive research, risk, safeguarding, sensory awareness, epilepsy and end-of-life care online case studies and activities with critical-thinking questions and ‘hot links’ to web resources to extend knowledge and understanding thereby facilitating learning a fully searchable, customisable electronic version of the text to enable easy access and quick reference

This handbook examines the wide-ranging applications of positive psychology in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities. It discusses the change in perceptions of disability and the shifting use of traditional deficit-based treatments. It presents evidence-based approaches and strategies that promote individuals’ strengths and capacities and as well as provide supports and services to enhance quality of life. Chapters address medical and psychological aspects in intellectual and developmental disabilities, such as mindfulness, motivation, physical well-being, and self-regulation. The book also discusses uses of assessment practices in evaluating interventions and client outcomes. In addition, it explores ways practitioners, with positive psychology, can focus on what a person is capable of achieving, thereby leading to more effective approaches to care and treatment. Topics featured in the Handbook include: Translating the quality of life concept into practice. The Casual Agency Theory and its implications for understanding self-determination. The Mindfulness-Based Individualized Support Plan (MBISP) and its use in providing support to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The unique role that friendship plays to people’s lives and social well-being. Supported Decision-Making (SDM) as an alternative to guardianship. A positive psychology approach to aging and retirement. The Handbook of Positive Psychology in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities is a must-have resource for researchers, professors, and graduate students as well as clinicians and related professionals in clinical child and school psychology, behavioral therapy, social work, applied behavioral analysis, recreational therapy, occupational therapy, education, speech and language pathology, psychiatry, clinical medicine, and nursing.

This book features the proceedings of the 8th International Conference of the International Association of Cultural and Digital Tourism (IACuDiT). Held on the Hydra Island in Greece in September 2021, the conference's lead theme was “Transcending Borders in Tourism through Innovation and Cultural Heritage”. Highlighting the contributions made by numerous writers to the advancement of tourism research, this book presents a critical academic discourse evolving tourism products and services. It also deals with strategies that help stimulate economic innovation and growth, and promote knowledge transfer. Selected chapters also deal with innovation, creativity, and change management in all aspects of tourism, culture, and heritage. A crucial focus is also placed on embracing ICT as a powerful development tool along with strategies and campaigns for smart tourism. It offers numerous examples from the whole spectrum of cultural and heritage tourism, including art, innovations in museum interpretation and collections management, cross-cultural visions, gastronomy, film tourism, dark tourism, sports tourism, and wine tourism.