Living in the shadow of grief: Lessons from people with a learning disability

"Life is characterised by movement, change and readjustment and thus by its very nature, by transitions, losses and grief. Death is often perceived as the ultimate loss and the only certainty within life itself. For some people with a learning disability death and dying may be difficult concepts to understand, and this often leads to disenfranchised grief. Perhaps professionals, families and friends simply don't know what to say at this sensitive time; some may not know how to hold difficult conversations when words alone are not enough; and some people are afraid of how the person might react in their quest to understand and express their pain and sadness.
In this inaugural lecture Professor Read identifies and catalogue the challenges when supporting people with learning disabilities with disenfranchised grief and death. Against a UK backcloth, she critically explores the concept, nature and meaning of support associated with loss and death, in order to show the complexity when supporting individuals who have cognitive impairments. Using her research experiences of travelling alongside people with a learning disability through their journeys of loss, Professor Read demonstrates that marginalised groups can indeed teach us so much about death and dying, but often lack the vehicles/routes to help them share these experiences and this knowledge with others."

[bruceandrade]

This was helpful to me. Thank you for sharing this!