Partnerships, advocacy and independence: service principles and the empowerment of minority ethnic people

Partnership, advocacy, independence and empowerment are key principles that underpin current policy and practice development in the field of learning difficulties. The extent to which these principles are helping to shape better services for people from minority ethnic communities is discussed. Empowerment implies involvement, control and the ability to make choices. This study highlights the invisibility, conflict and barriers many people with learning difficulties and their carers experience in their interactions with service providers. The need to take particular account of diverse cultural values and meanings when seeking to provide services that are appropriate to people from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds is highlighted. Findings are based on a review commissioned by the Department of Health to accompany the White Paper Valuting People: A New Strategy for Learning Disability for the 21st Century.