From home adaptations to the development of new communication styles, the development of a sensory impairment can have a significant impact on almost every aspect of a person’s life. However, it can also affect the lives of those around them too, including the family members and friends who support them.
As a carer you may be involved in liaising with professionals, helping someone to get out and about and taking on more of the practical tasks they were once responsible for. Dealing with these significant changes to your life can be challenging for you both at times but there is support available to help. Here we outline some of the support you may find it helpful to access if you are caring for someone with a sensory impairment.
Practical support for someone with a sensory impairment
The first step to accessing support is to ensure that the person you care for receiving the support they need to look after themselves and manage their sensory impairment as far as they can. A Social Care Needs Assessment will determine what provision they need to live as independently as possible, and the care plan that is drawn up afterwards will often provide access to specific training and equipment. You can ask your GP or other health professional to refer you, or you can request one of these assessments yourself.
Often, the person you care for will be supported by an Occupational Therapist (OT) and they can give good advice about training courses and specific equipment, like hearing aids, canes and glasses, that might be most suitable for the person you care for. Our article, Introduction to caring for someone with a sensory impairment, has lots more information and is a great place to find out more.
You might have considered exploring paid care, or other services. Having external care support can help to grow your support network, meaning you have extra people available in case of emergencies, as well as for support with meeting the physical and emotional care needs of the person you care for. You might also consider other services such as a cleaner or mobile barber to help with practical tasks. Our article on Introducing paid care goes into more detail on this.
If you are caring for someone who has developed a sensory impairment because of another medical condition or simply due to getting older you may feel that your caring role has become more complex, especially if they are unable to live as independently as they used to. During this time, you might find it helping to introduce more support, such as paid carers who can help with some of the practical or physical tasks.
If your physical health becomes impacted by a condition or indeed the caring role, you might find it helpful to consider whether supported living or residential care could be a positive option for them or you both. Our article on transitioning into residential care can support you to learn more.
If you are supporting someone who is deafblind or has a multi-sensory impairment, this can be a hugely challenging, hands-on role. You might be finding that the person you care for relies almost solely on you to complete practical tasks, to get out and about, and to communicate with others. You might be at a stage when you are feeling that extra support for yourself and the person you care for could be helpful to you both. Different levels of specialist support is available for people with a sensory impairment, including 1:1 support for people who are deafblind, and if they meet certain criteria this can be funded for them.
If you are caring for a child who has a sensory impairment, you may be looking for ways to support their communication needs, and extra support with their speech and language development. It can be helpful to connect with a Speech and Language Specialist, and you can ask your GP to refer you for this specialist help.
If your child has hearing loss or sight loss, this means they have a special educational need (SEN) and have the right to extra support in order to express their full potential. Many parents have found it useful to obtain an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) for their child to help ensure their educational needs are met.
If you are a parent supporting a child with additional needs, you may also find our other Parent Carer articles useful.
Developing a sensory impairment can often mean someone needs extra support to engage in conversations and access information by learning how to use new tools and technology, or even learning new ways of communicating like sign language, Braille or using the Deafblind Manual.
Help with home adaptations
In some circumstances, the local authority can offer grants to help with home adaptations. This is usually accessed through a Social Care Needs Assessment which determines what support might be most suitable for someone based on their care needs. If it is determined that a home adaptation would help someone to live at home independently for longer, this is something they would look to fund.
You can however making some simple adjustments such as installing handrails, tactile flooring, adjustable lighting, motion sensor lights and adapted alarms to help make a house feel safe.
General advice and guidance
If the person you care for has developed a sensory impairment, the best way for them to begin accessing support is by speaking with their GP or healthcare team. They will be able to answer questions, suggest next steps, and also connect them with helpful groups run by condition-specific organisations.
Sometimes the person you care for may want to be in the company of others who understand what they are going through, and your GP will be able to tell them about peer support groups (either locally or online) where they can share their experiences and hear others’ stories. You could also help the person you care for to find these groups by searching online yourself.
Support for you as a carer
Caring for someone with a sensory impairment can be challenging, and it’s important that you acknowledge the impact your role has on your own physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. To help manage the impact of caring on your physical and mental health, you might find it helpful to access support for you as a carer.
An important first step in accessing support is usually requesting Carer Needs Assessment from either the local authority or a local carers service. This assessment is designed to explore the impact of your caring role and to determine what support would be most helpful for you to continue to care in a safe and sustainable way.
Reach out to your local carer organisation
There will be carer organisations in your area that also offer advice and support, and they will also be able to tell you about your local carer peer support groups where you can connect with others, enjoy social activities, and simply feel heard and understood.
At Carers First, we are also here for you. From general advice to wellbeing programmes and tailored support, contact us here to find out how we can support you best.