Housing is an important issue for many people with a learning disability. It can be difficult to find the right kind of home, with the right amenities, adaptations and community, as well as ensuring that an individual has the right support at home, whether they are living independently, receiving support, or living in supported accommodation. For people with learning disabilities, …
‘Building back better’ for everyone
To mark Scottish Housing Day 2020 and its social housing theme, SCLD’s Evidence & Policy Officer Lorne Berkley explores the the role and potential of social housing in the lives of people with learning/intellectual disabilities in Scotland… Over the last few months, we’ve all had to spend much more time at home. The response to the Covid-19 pandemic has changed …
A home of my own… Adrian’s story
Hello, I’m Adrian*, and I live in my own home in Motherwell. I moved here in 2015, although I had dreamed of having my own home for a much longer time. I moved to Motherwell to be closer to family, before that I lived in different places, in hospitals and care homes, all over the country. I was born in …
A home of my own… Marie’s story
Choosing where, how and with who you live is a basic right that is often hard won by people with a learning disability in Scotland. In the run up to Scottish Housing Day on Wednesday 18th September 2019, SCLD is publishing a series of blogs to raise awareness of the challenges people with learning disabilities face when it comes to …
Housing as a human right for people with learning disabilities
A generation of people with learning disabilities have grown up since Scotland’s largest long-stay hospital finally closed its doors in 2002. Lennox Castle Hospital, on the outskirts of Glasgow, housed almost 1700 people with learning disabilities at its peak in the 1970s. It was one of many such institutions across Scotland. This policy of institutionalisation marginalised people with learning disabilities, …
A home of our own…
Monday 11 June 2018 “The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.” Joan McAlpine chose these words, by Maya Angelou, to open a recent debate in the Scottish Parliament on Appropriate Housing for People with Learning Disabilities. They serve as a reminder that for …