7 Summary of Session 3

In this session you have been considering learning disability from the perspective of families, who are often the primary carers even when they live elsewhere. You have learned that families experience very mixed emotions. They may feel oppressed and burdened, concerned about their relative, fearful about the future when they may no longer be around to keep a watchful eye, and yet recognise many benefits from living with and caring for a learning disabled relative.

There can easily be differences of opinion on what’s best for the relative, particularly when their disability is more severe. Hence conflict and misunderstandings between family and paid carers over who knows best can occur. However, when families and support workers work in harmony things can work well.

Finally, you heard from young adults with learning disabilities about how they feel living with their families, and how things can change over time.

In this session you explored:

• how family carers and paid support workers can work together
• why people with learning disabilities and their families may feel excluded from mainstream society
• the family dynamics when an adult with a learning disability continues to live with parents well into adulthood.

You can now go to Session 4 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] , which explores education for people with learning disabilities and their experiences of school.