Empowering Care Team

Learning Disability and Hearing Loss

Did you know that:

• Between 40-70% of individuals with a learning disability also have some degree of hearing loss? (Mencap, 2021)

• Most people with a learning disability who have hearing loss have never been tested? (BMJ, 2019)

Staggering, isn’t it? Individuals with a learning disability often experience health inequality which can have a devastating impact on how they communicate, experience the world around them and build meaningful relationships.

A Course for Care Teams

We are excited to launch an inclusive, empowering training package.

Our Learning Disability and Hearing Loss training is designed to open up a new world of sound for individuals with a learning disability and hearing loss. This course will signpost individuals, their families, support teams and carers to access diagnostic services, consider types of communication and technologies available and create robust care plans which support effective communication.

Why is this course important?

As you can see from the statistics, research is showing that too many individuals with learning disabilities are not receiving timely or appropriate support with hearing loss. This often leads to avoidable challenges, impacting an individual’s physical and mental health. Through this course, we aim to help individuals get access to the right support earlier.

Individuals with undiagnosed hearing loss are more likely to experience loneliness leading to poorer outcomes. The same is true for individuals who have a learning disability, (Foundation of Learning Disability, 2016).

In addition, individuals may be perceived as challenging, leading to unnecessary interventions restricting choice. This can lead to isolation, lack of opportunity to build relationships, thus potentially increasing their loneliness further.

Our training will help teams communicate more effectively, understanding individuals and using preferred methods to build relationships based on trust and respect.

What will I get from this course?

The benefits to staff teams are huge. Being trained specifically in supporting individuals with learning disability and hearing loss enables teams to provide support confidently, in collaboration with the multidisciplinary team, therefore increasing job satisfaction as they feel empowered in their role.

The training will benefit you as a provider, in terms of time and money recruiting and inducting new staff with experience of supporting people with hearing loss. It will also strengthen your reputation hugely as an outstanding provider of inclusive, person-centred services for adults with learning disability and hearing loss, therefore more future business.