Communication – Apple House Care Homes https://www.applehouse.co.uk A Fresh Approach To Care Tue, 25 Apr 2023 09:23:32 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.7 https://www.applehouse.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/cropped-New-Apple-House-Logo-32x32.png Communication – Apple House Care Homes https://www.applehouse.co.uk 32 32 Your Right To Be Heard… https://www.applehouse.co.uk/your-right-to-be-heard/ Tue, 25 Apr 2023 09:15:00 +0000 https://applehouse.co.uk/?p=1774

At the very heart of our work, our ethos, is the desire to facilitate those we support to recover their voice.  Their right to be heard and understood.

Being heard is so close to being loved that, for the average person, they are almost indistinguishable. –David Augsberger

We take our voice, our opinion, our choices, for granted.  We eloquently express our needs and our viewpoints and know that we are listened to, that the other person ‘gets us.’  The notion that we could be spoken for and on behalf of, that our voice translates not into our wishes but into something that the listener interprets for us, is reprehensible to you and I.

Historically, there have been many thousands in the UK, millions worldwide, for whom a voice – on thoughts, feelings, needs and interests – has not been afforded them.  Today, great strides have been taken in paving a pathway to communication for all.  The last decade has seen labels applied less, more creative methods developed to facilitate voice.  We have policies that empower and directives that serve to help all to be heard. Technological advances bring us gadgets and widgets and programmes and choice.

And so, we embrace the changes that have transpired in the past and those that are yet to come.  The knowledge that we all are heard and understood is really the most fundamental and basic right and underpins all that we do here at Apple House care homes.  Voices may not sound the same.  We may not express ourselves in the same way that our peers do, or our carer, our parent or friend but if we are heard then we know we matter.

–Jane Montrose, Managing Director.

]]> How We Use ‘Easy Read’… https://www.applehouse.co.uk/how-we-use-easy-read/ Mon, 20 Feb 2017 13:35:36 +0000 https://applehouse.co.uk/?p=1230 “Everyone should be able to access and understand information that affects their everyday lives, including the 10 million disabled people.  Information that is easier to understand helps people to make better choices on issues such as education, employment and healthcare.  It also helps people with learning disabilities to achieve a more equal role in society.”  –– Depart. of Health, ‘Making written information easier to understand for people with learning disabilities, 2010.

How are Apple House care homes helping those we support to understand the written information that pertains to them in order to help in their decision making and choices?

A picture paints a thousand words.  This is so true, don’t you think?  At Apple House care homes, we utilise a variety of communication methods alongside the written word or, sometimes, instead of.

‘Easy read’ means that we make our fonts clearer, larger, and we add symbols or pictures alongside the words.  What we say is said simply, it makes the points without the fuss.  We use ‘easy read’ to help people understand their medication, to prepare for appointments such as the dentist, health check ups and residents’ meetings.

Our primary goal is to make all of the information that forms a part of all our lives, into a format that is useful and relevant on an individual basis.  That said, ‘easy read’ is not a tool that we develop by ourselves as care providers.  As with all communication, it has to be a two-way street.

This means that we work in partnership with the person with learning disabilities to ensure that they are involved in creating a working tool that they understand, that it is meaningful to them.

— Jane Montrose, Managing Director, Apple House Care Homes.
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