Minority Interests

This NIHR funded project came out of the 200 Lives and Small Margins projects, and is being led by Changing Our Lives, with Manchester Metropolitan University and the National Development Team for Inclusion.

This study will

· Explore what cultural competency means to people with a learning disability and support staff and how this impacts on their support

· Identify key barriers/success factors in the delivery of culturally competent services, and collate examples of culturally competent service support

· Examine how the intersection of ethnicity and disability impacts on people’s lives and either shapes, or is ignored by, people’s support

This research project will carry out:

· 40 Quality Checks with adults with a learning disability and their families from South Asian, Black African, Black Caribbean and mixed heritage communities living in supported living or residential care across at least 6 provider organisations

· Workshops with groups of people with a learning disability and managers and staff from the participating provider organisations

· Workshops with 3 local authorities that commission social care and interviews with equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) leads

As a result of this work, we will use the findings from the quality checks and what people have told us in the research, to develop and deliver action learning training to staff in providers. This training will focus on cultural competency and how they can use this knowledge to better support the individuals they work with.

Information about the project can be found here.