Written collaboratively by the IMAS facilitators<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here We Go Again…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The 2019 LeDeR Annual Report<\/a> was published 16th<\/sup> July 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur updated data suggest that the disparity between age at death for people with learning disabilities (aged 4 years and over) and the general population (of all ages) in 2019 was 22 years for males and 27 years for females\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n These findings are not new. For a long time, we have had heard and seen many different reports looking at why people with learning disabilities are dying younger than they should. Have these reports been read? Have their contents been noted? Have they resulted in any change?<\/p>\n\n\n\n We find it outrageous the health inequalities mean that\npeople with learning disabilities are dying\nyounger than the general population and that people with a learning\ndisability are more likely to die from avoidable causes of death. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What adds insult to injury is the lack of progress in addressing these persisting inequalities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Motivation for Change<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Does it need the death of a loved one to provoke a reaction?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course not. Is it a systems problem? Are systems\nunresponsive or complacent? <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is written that every system is perfectly designed for the outcomes it gets. We have also heard it said that people with a learning disability are \u201chard to reach\u201d or \u201ca challenging\u201d group to work with. We reject this. Our experience in Mixed Ability Sports is exactly the opposite. Our teammates with learning disabilities are often more straight forward and open than the general population. We are experts at overcoming barriers. We fear that the \u201chard to reach\u201d excuse is some kind of shorthand for \u201ceasy to ignore\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tom, one of our Mixed Ability teammates, describes dehumanising experiences whilst engaging with healthcare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen I go to the hospital the Doctors talk to the person with me about my illness. I want them to talk to me.\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n He is not alone and in a recent workshop, Tom\u2019s experiences resonated with many of the IMAS Facilitators. This is a type of \u201cothering\u201d: seeing people as fundamentally different leading to ignoring, failing to listen, failing to notice, failing to engage with us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Head, Heart, Hands: ambitious for better<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If your head is not switched on to try to understand the atrocious problem of persisting inequalities: it should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If your heart is not troubled by avoidable death, loss and\ngrief: it should be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If your hands\u2019 only response is hand wringing: we challenge you to do more.\u00a0 We are ambitious for better. We want to be involved in decisions about our environment and our care (from design to implementation), with self-care at the core. The shocking mortality statistics in the LeDeR publication are the tip of an inconvenient iceberg. The real work here is about supporting and working with people to have the best quality of life possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Multiple Interventions Needed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This requires us to look a lot further upstream at the\ndeterminants of health. It is likely that a lot of small actions will make a\ngreater impact on people\u2019s lives than a single magic bullet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Call to Action!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mixed Ability Sport can help. Involvement with Mixed Ability\nSports improves mental and physical wellbeing, builds social capital and\nbelonging, creates networks of empowered advocates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mixed Ability Sport has the power to transform cultures and systems. We could call this \u201cre-humanising\u201d. \u00a0When people see each other as teammates with common goals, other labels disappear and we begin to see the person again. We begin to understand our shared responsibility to find solutions based on peoples\u2019 strengths. This impact was noted in an evaluation<\/a> of Mixed Ability by Leeds and Loughborough Universities. As experts by experience, we have designed and delivered training to 600 health or social care workers, involving them as participants in Mixed Ability sports. This training flips the traditional model of \u201clearning as knowledge transmission\u201d and is often the first time that a health or social care professional has been taught by someone with a learning disability in a formal educational session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n