Opinion
Labelling
There are interesting articles in Current Awareness Service (February 2006) on syndromes such as Down, Prader-Willi, Angelman and Williams. Some look at the combined effects of syndromes with conditions such as autism, blindness, cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
Interesting as such work is, in assessing it we have to ask ourselves: is it also useful? And in particular, is it useful to the individuals who have such conditions and their families? Or is this purely an academic exercise which risks labelling people to no good purpose?
Many of you will recall old, and perhaps not so old, arguments about labelling. I can remember in training acquiring reams of information about rare conditions, little of which contributed to the quality of life of those who actually had them. And in practice, there were times when you were summoned to meet, not Jane or James, but a case of this seldom seen syndrome or that.
Equally, and more recently, one might sometimes be admonished for labelling someone, when in fact the aim was to identify potential risks arising from a condition and make positive and supportive interventions early and more effectively as a result.
One of the advantages of PC – that’s person centred rather than politically correct – approaches is that the focus is on the individual. If it helps to have knowledge of a syndrome that person happens to have, then it is used. If not, it can be disregarded.
Happily, the articles on specific syndromes included here have much say that is relevant to improving life for people with learning disabilities. One point clearly to emerge in some of them, and in other articles, is the continuing problem of inequalities in health and social care, and the need for more community based services.
John Brooke
Editor
BILD's Current Awareness Service
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Last updated: 06/05/2010