Glossary

Assistive Technology

Assistive Technology is how some organisations describe technology which can be used by people with learning disabilities to make day to day activities easier, increasing people’s independence whist ensuring their safety. Technology might meet people’s needs at home, when they’re out and about or at work.

Hft prefer to use the term Personalised technology (PT). We’ve developed a personalised approach to using technology. We work with people to identify their needs, their goals, and the barriers they face in being independent. We use this needs assessment to propose a technology “toolkit” for the person we’re supporting, just for them.

Go to our personalised technology section to find out more about PT.

Advocacy

An advocate is someone who works with someone to identify what they want, and speaks up for them if they have difficultly doing so themselves.

Advocates can be friends or family members. Hft provide advocacy services or refer people we support to independent advocacy services. Advocacy service details can also be obtained from local authorities.

Advocate

Advocacy is about helping people say what they want, to secure their rights, to represent their interests and obtain the services they need. “Self-advocacy” is about people speaking up for themselves.

Hft can provide advocacy services. We encourage the people we support to speak up for themselves through our “speak out” groups, and we also work with the people we support, and other providers and self-advocacy groups around the country to help people develop the skills to speak up for themselves.

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Broker

A broker is a person or an organisation who can help people make decisions about the type of support they want, source the right support, and negotiate with providers. Hft can offer support planning and brokerage services for people who are self-funding, or have individual health budgets.

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Carer

If you’re a carer of an adult with a learning disability, you may also need support. Hft’s Family Carer Support service (FCSS), provide free support and information to family carers, and are active in ensuring family carers needs are represented in developing national care policies.

See our Family carer section for more information.

Complex Needs

The term complex needs is used to describe a range of multiple and additional needs that people with learning disabilities may have (Valuing People Now, 2009), for instance someone who has more than one disability such as a learning disability and a physical disability.

Care Quality Commission (CQC)

The Care Quality Commission is an independent public body that regulates social care and private and voluntary health care services in England.

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Day Service / Day Opportunity Services

Day services or day opportunity services are terms used to describe services delivered during the day or evening, which could include leisure activities or friendship groups.

Direct Payment

Direct payments are means-tested payments offered to people assessed as needing social care services by local authorities. Rather than using authorities’ own services, people are able to spend direct payments with different providers, giving them greater choice in deciding how they’re supported.

Where using direct payments to employ staff, people in receipt of direct payments also take on responsibility for wages, employment contracts etc.

Domiciliary care

Domiciliary care is also known as home care, and refers to support provided to help people live independently at home. Domiciliary care includes support with everyday tasks like bathing, dressing, household tasks or cooking.

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Family Carer Support Service (FCSS)

Hft’s national Family Carer Support Service provides free support and information for family carers of people with a learning disability.

See our Family Carer section for more information.

Flexible support

Hft offers flexible support solutions; this means we work closely with people and their families to develop the right support for people’s wants and needs.

The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA)

Set up by the Government, this authority helps to prevent unsuitable people from working with children and vulnerable adults.

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The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA)

Set up by the Government, this authority helps to prevent unsuitable people from working with children and vulnerable adults.

Independent Living

Independent living is about people living in their own homes, either with friends, or on their own, with support tailored to their specific needs.

Individual Budget

Individual budgets give people needing support, and their families, greater choice over the support they receive. Someone may choose to spend their individual budget on employing a personal assistant, having someone come in to help with household tasks, going on a short break, or having support to go out with friends or go to a concert.

Individual budgets can incorporate funding from several sources.

Hft is experienced in helping people plan and manage individual budgets.

Learning Disabilities (or Learning Difficulties)

A learning disability means that someone may have more difficulty learning, communicating, understanding or living independently.

Some people also use the term “learning difficulties”, although this is more regularly used in an educational context to describe conditions such as dyslexia.

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The Mental Capacity Act (MCA)

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 is a legal act designed to empower and protect people who may be perceived to lack the capacity to make decisions for themselves.

Our family carer support team have created a comprehensive resource for family carers of people with learning disabilities to help them understand the applications of the Mental Capacity Act.

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Personalised Technology (PT)

Personalised Technology (otherwise known as assistive technology) describes technology which can be used by people with learning disabilities to make day-to-day activities easier, increasing people’s independence whist ensuring their safety. Technology might meet people’s needs at home, when they’re out and about or at work.

We prefer to use the term PT as we’ve developed a personalised approach to using technology. We work with people to identify their needs, their goals, and the barriers they face in being independent. We use this needs assessment to propose a technology “toolkit” for the person we’re supporting, just for them.

Go to our Personalised Technology section to find out more about PT.

Personal Budget

A personal budget is similar to an individual budget, and refers to money paid to you or a family member to arrange your own support. Personal budgets come entirely from social care funding. People have the option to be paid as a direct payment, local authorities can commission services, or both options can be combined.

Person-centred planning

Person-centred planning is about putting the people we support at the centre of their support planning. It means learning what people want from their lives, helping them think about what they want now and in the future, and working with people’s families, friends and other professionals involved in their support to make their plan happen.

Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (PMLD)

People with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) may need full time help with every aspect of their lives – including eating, drinking, washing, dressing and toileting.

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Respite care

If you’re a carer for a friend or family member with a learning disability, sometimes you need a break. “Respite care” or “respite services” are terms often used to describe services that allow carers some time off from their caring role.

Hft offers a range of services for people with learning disabilities which allow carers to take some time out, whilst knowing the person they care for is happy and well supported.

We can provide short break services at home for a few hours or a few days.

We have a number of short break and activity centres around the country where people can go away for a few hours or a few days, meet new friends, learn new skills or try new activities whilst being fully supported.

We can support people to go away on holiday with friends or family.

We can support people to get out and about for a few hours to meet friends, go to college or take part in leisure activities.

Residential care / residential homes

A residential home is a home that is registered under the Care Standards Act 2000. Hft provides residential care in a number of homes around the country.

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Self-Directed Support (SDS)

Self-directed support is about putting the person needing support in control of choosing and planning their own support.

Self-funding

People who are self-funding pay for all or part of their own support costs. Hft can help with support planning and brokerage for people who are self-funding, or who have individual budgets.

Short Breaks

Hft’s short break services are completely flexible dependent on the needs of the people we support and their families or carers.

A short break can be supporting someone for a few hours at home to give a family member a break to go out, to go away for a few days, or to go away overnight.

We have a number of short break and activity centres around the country where people can go for a few hours or a few days, meet new friends, learn new skills or try new activities whilst being fully supported.

We can also support people to go away for short or longer holidays with family or friends, or to plan and go away on holidays, sometimes with specialist supported holiday providers.

Speak out groups

Our local and national speak out groups encourage the people we support to speak up about the things that concern them. That might include telling Hft about how they’re supported, more support they might want in a particular area, how they want to be communicated with, or national or local issues affecting people with learning disabilities they might like to campaign on.

Supported living

Supported living is where services are provided to people in their own home, or homes they may share with friends. Some of the supported living accommodation used by people we support is owned by Hft. We also work closely with private landlords, specialist housing companies and housing associations providing accommodation. Some accommodation is adapted with the use of Personalised Technology to the needs of the people living there, to help improve people’s quality of life, independence and safety.

Supported employment

We can help find jobs for people with learning disabilities, whether paid or voluntary. We support people to decide what they’d like to do, look for local job opportunities or work with other supported employment organisations. We can help people prepare CVs, get ready for interviews and go to interviews. We can support people to get to their jobs, or develop skills to get there on their own. We can also provide support at work until people, and their employers, are happy they can work without support.

Supported holidays

Hft can support people to plan and research holidays, and provide support services for short or long holidays with family or friends. We also work with the people we support to plan and go on holidays with other organisations providing supported holidays.

Our family carer support team have also created a comprehensive guide to learning disability holidays in the UK and abroad.

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Tailored Support

Hft provides tailored support. This means we work closely with people and their families to develop the right support for people’s wants and needs. This could mean residential care, supported living, support for a few hours a day or week. It could also mean one-off or occasional support when people’s families may need go away for a few hours or days.

Telecare

Telecare refers to technology which can be used increase people’s independence whist ensuring their safety. Telecare solutions include sensors connected to an alarm system. If a sensor, such as a gas sensor, fall sensor or flood sensor is activated, an alert is sent to support staff.

Hft’s Personalised Technology team may consider telecare as part of someone’s PT needs assessment.

Transition

Transition is a term regularly used to describe services for young people with learning disabilities when they move from children’s to adult’s services.

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