Features

Swiss Cottage School teacher, Tom Casson, co-founder of ‘How Do I?’ has developed a new app to allow people to live, learn and work more independently.
Tom explained, ‘How Do I?’ harnesses NFC technology to teach life and vocational skills through easy to access step-by-step videos.

Swiss Cottage School in the London Borough of Camden, meets the needs of children aged 2-19 with complex learning difficulties, emotional, behavioural and communication difficulties and those on the Autistic Spectrum Continuum. ‘How do I?’ is a social enterprise, majority owned by the Swiss Cottage School Charity.

Tom has been at the school for six years. Starting as a teaching assistant. He has now been teaching life skills for three years.

CREATING a power of attorney should be as commonplace as a will and failure to do so causes needless distress and frustration for family members, according to a leading expert.

Euan Fleming, Partner, Head of Private Client Law at Gilson Gray, believes appointing a power of attorney is as important and, in some cases, potentially more important than setting up a will.

The unpredictable nature of health can leave many – often irrespective of age – unable to sort their affairs for themselves.

Family members with no power of attorney are left helpless and unable to step in, causing issues during what is already a distressing time.

Some situations require specialist equipment in an emergency – when a child’s condition and associated behaviours put their lives at risk of serious injury or death.  Despite most local health and social care services having jointly commissioned integrated equipment stores to cater for the emergency needs of adults, no such public service exists to respond to the urgent, often life-threatening, needs of disabled or terminally ill children.  As a country we’re failing some of the most vulnerable in our society.

For the past five years Newlife has been running the UK’s first and only Emergency Loan service, delivering specialist equipment to disabled children in crisis within 72 hours of request.

Iida van der Byl-Knoefel was diagnosed with inflammatory arthritis at the age of 33. She was told that it was a chronic disease and that she would need to be on medication for the rest of her life; however, she was able to reverse the symptoms of the condition with a plant-based diet through the Paddison Program for Rheumatoid Arthritis and has been drug and pain free since August 2015. 
Iida collected the recipes that helped her heal from the condition and the result is the cookbook 'A Kitchen Fairytale'. She inspires others to cook more plant-based through her social media channels, with a worldwide following. 

Universal Credit will be rolled out across England and Wales next year, moving claimants’ existing benefits to a single monthly payment which must be applied for online.

Charities and organisations have expressed concern that the most vulnerable of people will be left out of pocket if more support is not given – so where does this leave disabled claimants?

The National Audit Office carried out a report on Universal credit, which was published in July, and said there was no practical alternative to continuing with Universal Credit as proceedings had already begun. It studied some areas included in a pilot scheme. 

On Tuesday 3rd July, The Mental Capacity (Amendment) Bill was presented to the House of Lords as an alternative and possible replacement of the current system which is known as DoLS process.

The proposed amendment follows criticism of the current system by the Law commission review in 2017 where it was deemed as being too complex and bureaucratic. DoLS have been difficult for care staff, service users and their families to navigate due to the complexities of the process, which is needed at a time when people are at their most vulnerable to ensure that they stay at the heart of decision-making.

Following the review, the government has developed a new system, known as ‘Liberty Protection Safeguards’ which will become legally binding through acceptance of the bill.

The new city-centre supported living service, Drake House, has been a ten-month labour of love by care-providers the Regard Group to ensure its refurbishment would meet the needs of the people who would live there.

They also liaised closely with the Plymouth City Council’s care managers throughout the project.

Kelly Floyd, team leader for Regard, said:

Mum of two, Gina Wade spends all the time she can helping her daughter Sophie overcome the symptoms of spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy and epilepsy. Walking and moving is always difficult for Sophie because of her stiff, tight muscles, but the pony she loves so much eventually led her to trying a unique treatment that finally helped ease her symptoms...  

The last few weeks have been out of this world for science fiction fan Peter Makar, who has come face-to-face with some of his favourite stars.

Peter, who lives at the Homeleigh residential care home in Crumpsall, Manchester, not only saw the latest Star Wars movie on the big screen, but also got to see some of his favourite characters in person.

Peter, who has recently celebrated his 52nd birthday, attended the ‘For The Love Of Sci-Fi’ event at Bowlers Exhibition Centre in Trafford Park.