People with intellectual disabilities with complex support needs have a significant intellectual impairment and experience difficulties in communicating. They have these often in combination with other difficulties like physical and/or sensory impairments, specific health/ medical and mental health conditions or issues.
The support required to live a full life is described as complex because it can meet one or several of the following characteristics:
- Diverse: Permanent assistance is needed in most aspects of life such as communication, decision-making, mobility, planning, emotional support, health and personal care;
- Intense: 24/7 support; 1:1 assistance; requires good knowledge of the person who receives support, often built over time
- Crucial: Life threatening safety concerns, specific health conditions, challenging self-harming behaviour.
Due to these characteristics, the support has to be person-centred and provided by supporters who have been specifically trained by families and others including the person’s former supporters to support the person, and to communicate in a competent
and respectful way.
Through this paper, Inclusion Europe reaffirms the need for the Inclusion movement, the authorities and the whole community to include people with complex support needs and their families, who are often the most excluded
- Every life has value and must be respected
- Everyone can flourish and increase/gain control over their lives
- Everyone can contribute to the community
- Every family has the right to an ordinary life
Read the full paper: Empowerment of people with complex support needs
English:
magyar:
Go further:
- How to include pupils with complex support needs at school?
- All about right to decide
- Safeguards in measures relating to the exercise of legal capacity
