Link to read and free download:

https://bit.ly/41Z6F36

The episode reviews the purposes of support planning for people with disabilities.

It addresses the different types of plans, the common principles and processes of good planning and considers some of the complexities of putting these principles into practice to ensure plans are implemented and inform action.

Link to read and free download:

https://bit.ly/45YZTg3 

This episode demystifies what workers and service providers should do to deliver high-quality and safe supports while acknowledging the complexity involved. 

The authors argue that strategies should be integrated into standard ways of working rather than approached as a box-ticking exercise disconnected from day-to-day practice.

Link to read and free download:

https://bit.ly/4kvlDpL 

This episode explains the significance of culture in disability services and its influence on staff behaviour. 

The chapter explores the characteristics of culture in good and poor quality services and considers actions that organisations and frontline managers may take to change and maintain culture.

Link to read and free download:

https://bit.ly/3ODE8fG 

This episode reviews different approaches to tapping into the expertise of people with disabilities from their lived experiences of disability and the practices that are most effective for working together with people with intellectual disabilities. 

It considers some of the unresolved issues that support workers, managers and policy makers grapple with to further the rights of people and ensure there is ‘nothing about us without us’.

Link to read and free download:

https://bit.ly/4aK4chQ 

This episode considers the significance of decision making to the lives of people with disabilities and changing expectations about their right to participate in decision making since the 2006 United Nations Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Most people do not notice the decisions they make throughout the day, which determine what their day may be like. People with disabilities, however, often have these decisions made for them.

This chapter explains the processes and describes the skills required for the practice of good- decision support with people with disabilities, through making decision making visible and the need for support explicit.

Link to read and free download:

https://bit.ly/4rjUDMK 

This episode addresses supporting people exhibiting behaviour which falls outside expected social norms and is harmful to themselves or others.

Challenging behaviour is more common among people with intellectual disabilities than other groups of people with disability.

 The extent of the challenging behaviour and negative impact it has on quality of life. The chapter highlights the importance of designing services and developing practice skills to provide quality support to this group.

Link to read and free download:

https://bit.ly/4bXQnO7

The episode provides an overview of the implications of poor health and why poor health is often experienced by people with intellectual disabilities. 

Optimal health is central to being able to enjoy the best possible quality of life. The chapter explores the roles that disability support workers and others play in ensuring good health of people with intellectual disabilities, and the skills they need.

Link to read and free download:

https://bit.ly/4abV7hJ

This episode draws upon the authors’ experiences as social work practitioners and service users, as well as existing research, to focuses on the experiences of people with mild intellectual disability who are socially marginalised. 

Many of these people also have co-occurring psychiatric conditions, and often present with complex support needs related to adverse life experiences.

They do not always identify as disability service users, yet nonetheless require support to enjoy a successful life in the community.

Link to read and free download:

https://bit.ly/4rcAVlP

This episode describes the rationale for the practice of Active Support, presents evidence about its impact on the quality of life of people with intellectual disabilities, and lays out its essential elements.

Many people with intellectual disabilities need support to engage in meaningful activities and social interactions. Active Support is a way for frontline disability support workers to support clients to engage in these activities. 

Link to read and free download:

https://bit.ly/4rDd2DG

This episode explores how to promote employment for people with intellectual disabilities.

Most societies place a high value on work and on all their citizens being gainfully employed, including people with disabilities.

Link to read and free download:

https://bit.ly/3MqODCz

This episode explores supporting community participation for people with intellectual disabilities. 

This type of support practice is challenging as what community participation looks like depends on an individual’s preferences, resources and opportunities in their environment. 

 The chapter uses examples from research to illustrate the many forms of community participation and support strategies 

Link to read and free download:

https://bit.ly/4afIfaw

This episode concentrates on the need to listen to and learn from people with intellectual.

People with intellectual disabilities are often not well-supported to participate in contributing to changes or are only represented by families or other allies.

The new, rights-based approaches discussed in the book emphasise hearing directly from people with lived experience of disability about their experiences as service users, to inform policy change and service design.