To think this woman who is a 'carer' should not have left her client.

[littlefrog3]

Me and DH went for a coffee the other day, and saw a woman from our neighbourhood (who is frankly quite annoying; the sort you walk a mile to avoid.) She works for an agency as a 'carer,' though personally I wouldn't leave a dog in her care.

So me and DH waved as we walked to the far end of the coffee shop, and sat down with our lattes for a chat. 2 minutes in, and this woman came toddling along towards us, and just started randomly talking to us 'how are you both? How's work? What are you doing here? Yada yada blah blah.'

All this time, the woman she was 'caring' for (a vulnerable woman with learning difficulties,) was sat on her own, right up the other end of the coffee shop, near to the exit. This woman had her back to the woman she is supposed to be caring for.

Me and DH said 'do you think you better go back to that lady you're caring for?' She said 'she'll be OK,' and carried on whittering. 5 minutes later she went back to her; but only after we said 'we need to go now.' We left sooner than we intended to did because she was ruining our coffee and chat together, and we felt uncomfortable with her leaving the woman she was meant to be 'caring' for. She could have run off or harmed herself or anything!

So did she do wrong? (Leaving the woman on her own.) And would you do anything about it? (eg report her?) She isn't the type you talk to about it, as she would kick off and slag you off to everyone, and if she WAS reported, (by someone else,) she would think it was us.

And adult cannot and does not have the mental age of a 5 year old.
They are not children. They are adults.

Using that measure just encourages the infantilization of people with disabilities

A person with LDs is just as likely to have sexual feelings as a person without. A person with LDs is also just as likely to have a need for independence and choices we wouldn't expect a 5 year old to have/need.

Whether a medic deems a term offensive is not much of benchmark tbh.

Its totally nonsensical and tells us nothing about a person's capacity. Its disablist in that it is able-centric and reduces a person to what a non disabled person thinks they are. It is lazy. It doesn't acknowledge the complicities of learning disability.

How can comparing an adult to a child not be offensive

""To PPs - Learning difficulties and Learning disabilities aren't the same thing either.""

Absolutely, a pp has said the people with LDs range from those that need full supervision to those that only need a bit of help. Many people with LDs, travel, work and live (even Parent) independently. My DD was diagnosed with moderate LDs and was best placed in a SN school. She's taken a bit longer than average to get into mainstream college but is skilled in what she has chosen and will be in part time work within a year. She once needed support to get used to navigating shopping centres etc outside of the family, to promote Independance.

She's been well received by her mainstream peers, which is hopeful, for the future of people with LD's.

""MrsD that term gets used in my care company, I see where your coming from though I don't like it either""

If they're in the UK, they shouldn't be in business.

A false report can cause a lot of harm, as said. She will be temporarily removed from that Service User (and perhaps others), which will cause a lot of distress to any SU who don't cope well with change.

If the OP is still about, why do you wave and speak to someone who you have such a low opinion of?

Birds I agree with you, it's mostly used by older professionals, not all obviously.

I complained about that phase being used and "mental hospital" after the training.

User, my DD has a Carer because she is unable to physically complete many tasks such as food preparation,cooking,closing and locking her own front door,washing herself thoroughly and dressing herself..when she is out in public in her electric chair she can miss judge steps and is some times quite distracted when shopping ( aren't we all) but she has the capacity to direct her care needs verbally to a Carer and make lifestyle choices...there certainly are times when she neither needs nor wants the Carer/ PA/ support worker stuck to her side and as long as the Carer makes it quite clear to her where she's going and roughly how long she'll be that's fine ( have you ever tried queueing at a coffee shop with drinks,food etc with a person in a large electric wheelchair?) of course some people are NOT happy to be left on their own but that's why we have care plans so that we can evaluate a persons care needs appropriately, safeguard that person and take them to public places that are appropriate for their access needs if needed.
O.P when there is a report of wilful neglect of a vulnerable person a Carer will not just get a slap on the wrist, they may get suspended without pay ( pending an investigation) it may be escalated to the local safeguarding team who will then decide if the DBS need to know and gauge if that person is competent to work as a Carer again...IF you truly believe that this person was at risk why did you not put down your coffee and ask the Carer if you can ' come over and say hello?. I would like to think that if my DD was being abused/ neglected in public so openly that someone would have the back bone to intervene!