Support Services Available For People Living With...

There are many support services available for people living with disabilities. It is important these services are in place to ensure disabled people have the same opportunities as everyone else. The Equality Act was put into place in 2010 to ‘support the rights of disabled students by giving greater legal protection against discrimination’. (Disability Rights UK, 2012) The act emphasises the legal duty on education providers, employers and service providers to make appropriate changes in order for disabled people to take part in education, use services and work. The act was in place to bring together different laws that cover discrimination into one. Therefore the act says that disabled people should be treated equally and protection†¦show more content†¦Specialist support services are tailored to an individual needs and are different to other support services as the individual can be supported during the day, in the evening, over night and/or at weekends. Not all services can offer support at such flexible hours. Specialist services are beneficial to an individual with disabilities as they are flexible, offer expert personalized support and can offer support to people with a range of complex needs; furthermore, this service can also be funded by a local authority. (Mencap, 2016) There are many other support services that have a positive impact of a person living with a disability for example; befriending and mentoring services are in place for disabled people as well as families of disabled people to provide short-term, one-to-one support. This support can range from emotional support, coping skills, new ideas and working towards goals. (Scope, 2016) Another example of support would be professionals in place to support disabled people to find jobs, work experience and volunteering opportunities that will develop their careers and allow the individual to feel valued. A wide range of policies effect the lives of disabled people both directly and indirectly. The government introduced a wide range of policies such as the Disability Discrimination Act