Assessment Underway...

Following the awareness workshop held in Warrington recently, MacIntyre's Karen Duggan and Home Farm Trust's Emma Nichols visited the home of the four ladies due to take part in MacIntyre's Assistive Technology pilot programme.

Over the course of two days, and in a very relaxed and informal environment, the four ladies and their support staff discussed their day to day life experiences with Karen and Emma and some of the challenges which face them on a daily basis.

All aspects of the ladies lives were covered and particular attention was paid to what was working well and what was not working so well.  In this respect, methods and devices could be looked at to both help and assist independence, as well as continuing to promote the achievements and steps already being taken by the individuals.

Following the assessments, the enthusiastic house met to discuss how they themselves can begin to make small but significant steps to further promote independent living within the service with the implementation of picture shopping lists amongst other things.

The assessment process now complete, Karen and Emma will begin to look at what forms of assistive technology will be of benefit to, not only the individuals, but the house as a whole.

They are due to return to the service in mid-April to reveal the results of the assessments to the ladies and arrange the installation of the technology.

Check back soon to find out how they got on...

Assistive Technology gets set to enhance the lives of four Warrington ladies

While the use of assistive technology is not completely new to MacIntyre, with people already using various forms of technology as part of their support and day to day life, the opportunities for people to use technology remains limited for people with a learning disability.

MacIntyre's new and exciting Assistive Technology pilot project aims to make a difference to people's lives through increasing or maintaining their independence and/or keeping them safer, as well as expanding our knowledge of the range of assistive technology available. 

For the duration of the pilot project we are supported by Home Farm Trust who have recently completed a project looking at Assistive Technology and Telecare for people with a learning disability.

The pilot project is taking place in Warrington, with four ladies who share a house and have a team of staff supporting them (Bernie Vero, pictured above). We recently held an awareness workshop to let all those involved know about the different types of technology and to hear stories from those who have used assistive technology. The workshop also enabled people to think about how technology might be able to help them as individuals.

The next step is an assessment with MacIntyre's Karen Duggan and Home Farm Trust's Emma Nichols, due to take place this week. This will involve talking about the things they like to do and exploring how technology may contribute to their support received from MacIntyre.

Check back regularly to follow the story of the four ladies and how assistive technology aims to improve and sustain a more person centred approach to the people who use our services.