Transcript

GAIL:

I think it can be really difficult when the person that’s being supported and the family have a different view about what happens next. Maybe Becky wants to stay at home, or maybe somebody that-- your relative doesn’t want to move out of the family home and wants to live with you forever. And that’s normal and to be expected.

You kind of expect if somebody has lived with their family for 45 years, 50 years, the idea of moving out, it’s really scary. And it’s also facing up to all those other things like bereavement and losing a family member, and all of those things that actually none of us really want to think about. But if you have a learning disability, there may be other reasons why that’s difficult to understand or make sense of.

So I think there needs to be really careful steps taken. I think it’s a very delicate situation. I think it’s bringing people along slowly, supporting the person with a learning disability to understand a little bit about why maybe their mum and dad can’t support them like they used to, and that other people move out of their family home when they’re older.

And obviously as a parent, you know your son or daughter best. You know what they will-- their level of understanding will be. For some people, you can have those discussions. For others, it’s much more difficult. My son certainly wouldn’t understand any of that. It would-- so depending on the situation, there would be different things that you could do. I think, take it slowly. That’s why the planning is so important.