Free Health Dissertations - There Are Many Controversies On The Validity And Use Of Epidemiological Data
There are many controversies on the validity and use of epidemiological data and on prevalence and incidence rates of learning disabilities. All children with learning disabilities are not reported and in most cases it is difficult to understand the symptoms of learning disability until at a much later stage. One of the major problems is the argument that collection of data on disabled individuals invariably leads to labeling and brings in concerns as to whether such discrimination is useful or necessary. However some scholars have argued that labeling helps in identifying the disabled individuals and ensures that special needs of such people are met through adequate care provisions. Incidence rates and prevalence data on learning disabilities are helpful in clinical practice as it provides an estimate of the nature and extent of support that healthcare services should be prepared to provide.
LO.3 - Describe how people with learning disabilities have been misunderstood in the past and how this may affect contemporary provision of health care for them.
Attitudes and beliefs about people with learning disabilities have changed rapidly in the last few decades and have consequently shaped healthcare provisions available to this group of people. Models of social inclusion and community care have replaced traditional models of institutional care and there is more emphatic appreciation of civil and human rights of individuals with learning disabilities. It has been argued that the rate of change in services to disabled individuals has been slow in Scotland as compared to other parts of Britain, but this has also helped enable accurate assessment and greater response to fulfilling needs of people with learning disabilities. Social care policies by the Department of Health, legislative definitions of learning difficulties along with human rights campaigning for such people and increased spread of awareness that learning disability is more of a convenient label, have altogether led to improved conditions and stronger commitments to provide a more person centered approach to care than before.
People with severe or moderate learning disabilities were regarded as mentally deficient or retarded and since the implementation of the Mental Deficiency Act in 1913, it was recommended and all mentally retarded be categorized according to the level of disability and by 1929 100, 000 mentally retarded individuals were institutionalized in the UK. Although in the early 19th century, institutional care for patients with learning disabilities aimed at modifying or changing mental defect, this was quickly replaced by a philosophy of control and coercion in custody. The initial institutionalized ‘colonies’ were changed to long term hospitals following the NHS 1946 Act.
