Making it Real for Sensory Impairment: What will you do differently?

Making it Real for Sensory Impairment, the new resource from TLAP, is not just for people working in sensory specialist areas - it's for everyone.

Why? Well one of the big issues about sensory impairment is how common it is, and how often the impact of the sensory impairment is not recognised. That's particularly true of older people and people with learning disabilities. Staff often miss the fact that the people they work with have difficulties with hearing or sight, perhaps because it is so common. Many more fail to recognise how significant it is for people's ability to have choice and control.

Sensory impairment is not something which exists in isolation. Anyone working in care and support in any setting may work with people with sensory impairment. Everyone, not just those with a specific sensory specialism, need to know what good personalised support looks like.

What people with sensory impairments want from personalised support is no different from anyone else, but what needs to be done to achieve these outcomes can look very different.

You will recognise the Making it Real 'I' statements in this new resource: Information and advice; active and supportive communities; flexible and integrated care and support; workforce; risk enablement and personal budgets and self-funding. Making it Real for Sensory Impairment takes each of the six key areas covered by the 'I' statements and sets out steps that need to be taken to put these into practice for people with sensory impairment. This is followed by a series of case studies showing how this is already being done in a range of different settings.

These examples range from quite simple to very ambitious, including a whole council approach to accessibility and creative approaches to involving people in staff recruitment.

Sensory impairment covers a wide spectrum from those with a relatively mild impairment through to those with a significant impairment of both senses and very complex needs. Within this there are common themes around communication, mobility and access to information, sometimes in unexpected ways.

If you think you may need to do more to address sensory impairment then this document will get you started. For those already aware of the issues, I hope this will inspire you to think more creatively about how people with more complex needs can still have choice and control in their lives.

A key theme throughout the document is not putting limits on what people can achieve. That might be quite small, like appreciating live theatre again, or more ambitious such as using a specially adapted menu to get a job as a waiter. Making it Real for Sensory Impairment will make you think about creative and ambitious solutions to enable people to live their lives. As one father puts it, "You don't take away the risk from someone like Eleanore. You identify it, manage it, and still let the person have a damn good time."

Wherever you work, I guarantee you will find something in this to learn from and be inspired. What will you do differently?