Habilitation Provision research results
Slide 1
Being independently mobile’: Habilitation Provision research
results
Kat Hogg
Slide 2
‘What is Habilitation training?’
Habilitation is defined in the Vision 2020 strategy as ‘the
acquisition of mobility, orientation and other independent living
skills in relation to children and young people (CYP) born with
vision impairment or who acquire it during childhood’ (Vision 2020
UK, 2013).
However, Habilitation training is not currently available for all
children and young people with sight loss in the UK.
Slide 3
‘What is Habilitation training?’
The Guide Dogs family advocate that all CYP with sight loss in the
UK should have access to habilitation training that adheres to the
Habilitation Quality Standards as and when they require it.
The Quality Standards provide a baseline for habilitation practice,
and contain the skills, knowledge and understanding needed by
those delivering such training & what they might be expected to
deliver; they also include the expected learning outcomes for the
CYP with sight loss being trained.
Slide 4
‘What is Habilitation training?’
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The Quality Standards identify six learning outcomes for
CYP with VI:
The maximum degree of independent living;
the maximum degree of travel and mobility;
emotional well-being, including self-confidence and selfesteem;
maximum degree of social inclusion;
competence in the use of specialist Habilitation tools as aids
to mobility and independence;
6. the ability to be able to assess risk and anticipate likely areas
of personal difficulty in mobility and independent living.
Slide 5
Habilitation provision research
Two projects have been carried out to explore the accessibility and
quality of habilitation provision for children and young people with
vision impairment (VI) in the UK:
Case Studies of habilitation provision:
12 detailed case studies were collected across the UK: England
(6) and 2 each in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales;
benchmarked against the Quality Standards.
Survey work:
investigated the Habilitation training experiences of 43 CYP with VI
(aged 12-25 years) and 68 parents of CYP with VI (aged 1-18
years).
Research outcomes: to inform the ‘Movement Matters’
programme, and to update the Vision 2020 Children and Young
People’s group.
Slide 6
Habilitation provision research findings
There is a lack of clarity of exactly what habilitation is:
whether it is a form of education, or a social service. The lack of
clarity of exactly what is and who is responsible for delivering its
various complements is at the heart of the problems of
responsibilities for funding and delivery.
Budget cuts:
in recent years have impacted negatively on many services and
are expected to have further impacts.
Eligibility for services:
is likely to be tightened in the future as budgets are expected to be
cut further, potentially excluding many CYPVI who need services.
Variation in service provision:
does not appear to be accounted for by devolved national
legislation rather, it appeared to reflect decision-making, funding,
and service structures at Local Authority (LA) level.
Slide 7
Habilitation provision research findings
There is considerable variance in the accessibility of habilitation
services. Even where high quality habilitation services exist, some
CYP still do not access them because there is no systematic
provision of information and referral, particularly from medical
services, even where CYP meet the criteria for certification and
registration.
Less emphasis is placed by some local authorities on Independent
Living skills training, and outcomes of social inclusion and
emotional wellbeing, than on mobility training.
The importance of early intervention: The data indicates that if
CYP with sight loss are not introduced to mobility training at a
young age, they are likely to develop counter-productive strategies
and may reject offers of support, training and equipment if training
is introduced when they are older.
Slide 8
Habilitation provision research findings
Habilitation provision for young people post age 16
The case study work reported that one of the greatest gap in
habilitation provision lies within the provision of young people post
age 16, particularly if leaving education.
In some areas there is potential for some of these young people to
not have access to any service until they are 18 when they are
eligible to access adult services.
Slide 9
Habilitation provision research findings
Mobility Extent:
41% of young people aged 18 to 25 years were not able to get out
and about as much as they would like.
Mobility training:
Over half of the respondents reported that there were some
elements of mobility training that they would have liked to have
learnt at an earlier age.
The majority of young people stated that they thought that it would
be useful for them to have further mobility training.
Slide 10
Contact details:
Kat Hogg, Research Associate
kat.hogg@guidedogs.org.uk