Letter: NHS fails people with learning disabilities
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Your support makes all the difference.Sir: I am so glad that an inquiry is going to be done on NHS "bias" against people with learning disabilities. I do not think that on the most part the bias is purposely done, but is due to staff ignorance and lack of training.
I took my seven-year-old autistic daughter for a scan last week. When the pads were placed on to my daughter, she said it hurt. I explained that autistic people can have heightened senses such as pain, especially when anxious. The person doing the test said, "Yes but it isn't really hurting."
When my daughter was not co-operating, I said to the technician that they would have to speak more clearly so that my daughter would understand what was being said. The technician said that she thought that my daughter just did not want to do what we wanted her to do and pretty much implied that my daughter was being awkward. It ended up that she was being asked to do two things at one time, and I think she was struggling to do that.
People with learning disabilities are entitled to the same treatment as everybody else and because they cannot always say what they need, somebody needs to make sure that they are getting what they need.
SAMANTHA HARLEY-PESCE
Spalding, Linconshire
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