04: The case for better outcomes for working
‘Good outcomes’ include: • Living a ‘gloriously ordinary life’: working age and lifelong disabled adults should be able to enjoy a life that feels normal and fulfilling, just like anyone else. • Living the lives of value they choose to lead: individuals should have the freedom to lead fulfilling lives that they find meaningful and valuable, tailored to their personal needs and aspirations. • Participation in local communities: active involvement in the community is essential, ensuring that individuals are not isolated but are integral members of their local communities. • Keeping healthy and well: maintaining health and wellbeing is crucial, in environments that are safe, stable, and protected from harm. • Living as independently as possible: individuals should be empowered to live independently, with support that enhances their autonomy rather than creating dependency. Individuals should have the power to make choices and control their lives, with flexibility and autonomy. • Participation in education and employment: individuals should be able to receive the education opportunities they wish and be employed in jobs they find fulfilling. • Living a life, not a service: the focus should be on enabling individuals to live their lives fully, rather than being merely “service users”. • Progressing throughout life: recognising that life involves progression, change, and occasional challenges for anyone – disabled or not. Support should be adaptable to these changes, rather than seeing them as ‘complex’. There should be ample opportunities for learning and employment, tailored to individual needs. • Experiencing fairness and opportunity: individuals should experience fairness of opportunities, ensuring that those with disabilities have the same chances as those without. Social care should act as a springboard for equal opportunities, providing more than just a safety net.
When discussing the evolution in models and in quality of care for working age and lifelong disabled adults during the engagement phase of this programme of work, it typically resulted in both a sense of encouragement and challenge. Encouragement in the scale of progress made in attitudes, efficacy of support, and associated outcomes, but also challenge in terms of how much more progress could be made in a relatively short time frame. It frequently resulted in those providing social care to working age and lifelong disabled adults to look at the current models of care in operation, and to raise questions including: • Are we achieving the best possible outcomes for the people we are supporting? • Are we achieving these outcomes in the most effective way? To start to answer these questions, this section looks at the outcomes being achieved for working age and lifelong disabled adults, and the key barriers identified by sector stakeholders engaged through this programme as impeding improved outcomes. What do good outcomes look like for working age and lifelong disabled adults? There is no single, agreed definition of what good outcomes could or should look like for working age and lifelong disabled adults, but through the engagement carried out for this programme (including with those with lived experience), several key themes have emerged consistently.
age and lifelong disabled adults
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