Principles for working with learners with learning difficulties and disabilities

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In recent years, many disabled people have tried to instigate a change in how disability is perceived. Put very simply, this change constitutes a shift from seeing disability as an individual's intrinsic problem that is bound to cause difficulties, to seeing that it is often society which disables an individual by not being adaptable to the full range of physical and learning diversity.

For example, a deaf learner who lipreads is not at such a disadvantage in a well-lit room where the teacher faces the front and articulates clearly, and where learning activities with peers are designed to maximise the use of visual cues. If these factors are not in place, however, the learner's impairment becomes a disability.

When working with learners with a disability or learning difficulty, it is very important not just to focus on the specific disability but to follow certain generic principles. These are:

• treat people as individuals, not conditions
• don't assume you know what the implications of a disability are; ask the learners themselves, and listen to what they say - they are the experts on the effects of their learning difficulty or disability
• understand the social dimension of disability and realise that the implications of an impairment are the effects it is allowed to have in current circumstances, and that these circumstances can change
• be aware of your own attitudes - it is often staff attitudes (for example, patronising behavior or pity or embarrassment) rather than an individual's disability that can create barriers
• develop a learning environment that encourages all participants to respond to the range of learning needs, aspirations and difficulties in the group in positive, frank, supportive and creative ways
• learn to have moments when you sit back and observe what works for a particular learner and what does not - and make sure this includes observing his or her strengths as well as the things he or she finds difficult; there may be emotional issues that create a barrier to learning and which you will need to address before learning can take place
• do not be afraid of trying things out that might not work; it is sometimes necessary to explore different ways of working in order to find out which is the most effective; this is all right as long as you and the learner work through the issues and decide on the strategy together
• ensure that the range of resources is appropriate and adequate to meet the needs of all learners.