Page 11 - Community Living Magazine 35-2

opinion
Growing the wrong priorities

Suzanne Gale visits a home with beautiful gardens that the residents can rarely use, finds that
advice from care homes and councils is based on what suits them and gets a spring in her step
about Strictly Come Dancing

recently visited a low-secure unit for she told me that “we’ve filled this in the little the service user and their family will
teenage girls, most of whom have way we always do it and no one else has know and therefore how much the
I autism. It is surrounded by grounds made such a fuss”. provider and/or the council can get away
bigger than my local park. When I escalated the situation, her with. It’s frightening stuff.
However, the girls often cannot go manager told me that it’s sometimes
out in it because they may need to be difficult for people to understand the Strictly for all
accompanied and there aren’t enough staff. complexity of a power of attorney so there Reality competition shows have taken
The organisation claims that it doesn’t was always going to be the odd mistake. valuable steps to challenge the public
have enough money to provide a sensory The impact of this “mistake” would perception of ability.
room. It also says staff turnover is so high have made me personally responsible for Age and race have not been significant
picking up care home fees if the relative’s barriers to winning in the reality TV world.
money ran out. It makes me wonder It’s been more than 10 years since we first
The impact of this “mistake” whether it was a mistake at all. saw Heather Mills, who is an amputee, on
would have made me Hidden horrors in legal advice Dancing on Ice and, since then, many
people with visible and invisible
personally responsible for Over the past year, I’ve spent many an disabilities have been given opportunities
picking up care home fees if evening studying with Belinda Schwehr to work with committed and creative
my relative’s money ran out from CASCAIDr on her professionals’ professionals in such competitions.
All of these contestants have raved
course, primarily concentrating on the
Care Act and how we can best support about how excited they have been to
people with disabilities to ensure that step up to the plate.
that the girls have only a shred of the their legal rights are observed. Last year, it was proven that same-sex
specialist support that has been identified The complexities of the Care Act are couples can, in fact, dance and skate
as vital to their recovery. brilliantly unpicked and explained by her together without the world stopping on
Of course, being able to walk in a and at least I now know what I don’t know. its axis and, this year, we have seen the
tree-lined, manicured garden is good for What’s shocked me most, however, is amazing Rose Ayling-Ellis on Strictly Come
mental health but surely, without decent realising what poor legal advice I have Dancing, who has shown us that deaf
staffing, it’s pretty worthless? been given. people can dance.
If the people who need the support are I now believe that much of the advice I Will the producers ever be brave enough
spending most of their time indoors have received from in-house solicitors in to consider one of the many successful
because there are not enough trained both local authorities and providers has people with a learning disability a big
staff to keep them safe outside, or there been based on a risk assessment of how enough celebrity to offer them a spot? n
are not enough specialist skills available
among employees to put a decent
behaviour management plan in place, it’s
hardly worth it.
With such limited financial resources,
isn’t it time for everyone to realise that
the public purse needs to focus on
upskilling and paying for good-quality
staffing within the sector rather than
keeping local landscapers in business?

Mistake or ploy?
I have power of attorney for a relative and
can, therefore, sign legal agreements on
their behalf.
I’ve had to argue, sometimes at length,
with so-called professionals who have
been putting pressure on me into signing
things that just aren’t correct.
BBC/Guy Levy the difference between an attorney and Rose Ayling-Ellis (with Giovanni Pernice) shows being deaf is no bar to taking part in Strictly Come Dancing
At one point, after repeatedly explaining
representative to a care home manager,

www.cl-initiatives.co.uk Community Living Vol 35 No 2 | Winter 2022 11