Community Autism and Learning Disability Team (CALDT)

You are awesome!

We care about your life and want to help you when you need us to.

We want to know what is important to you and what you want to do. If you need some help along the way, we’ll support you to work out what that will look like.

We will support you to tell us in any way that you can, what your hopes and dreams are.

We want to help you to work toward the dreams that others might think are impossible.

All people in Doncaster should have equal access to local services (dentist, GP, transport, day opportunities and education).

We will help to make that feel real for you.

We link people with services and places in the community that can help you to get what you need. We will help them reach out to you, as well as you reach out to them.

We will help you to find your way to the services you need.

We will support you to try out things that might work for you, but if they don’t, we’ll try and find something else.

We are passionate about with people who have a Learning Disability or Autism and their families.

We will respect the life experience of you and your family.

We recognise everyone has a different story to tell.

We are skilled at building good relationships with people who have Learning Disabilities or Autism.

We will help you to have difficult conversations with people you feel don’t understand and listen to you.

We want you to feel safe and happy in your own home.

We want you to be included, not side-lined.

We will try to make all of the information that you need from us accessible for you.

We will support you to take risks and to be independent.

We help people to make their own decisions about where they live, what support they need and where they learn.

If there are places and things that feel unwelcoming to you, we will help to change that.

We will work with you at your pace.

We will ask you how you want us to work with you.

We want you to feel comfortable telling us what makes you feel angry and frustrated.

We will dedicate our time to building a trusting relationship with you, so that you can feel comfortable talking to us about your life.

We will be open and honest about what we can help you with and what we can do.

You shouldn’t ever feel stuck. We will listen and change the support we offer as you change and grow.

We will treat you as a human being, not a diagnosis.

We won’t make any assumptions about you based on what other people tell us.

We will listen to your voice.

We will make sure you have the choice of being at meetings that are about you and that make decisions that affect you.

We want to help people to make a difference in their own lives, to be the person they want to be and as independent as possible.

We believe you should have a choice of where you live and who you live with.

We want you set the rules on how we work with you.

A learning disability is a lifelong condition that occurs from birth or before 18 that affects the way a person understands information and how they communicate. A learning disability may be mild, moderate, severe, or profound and multiple.

People with a learning disability may have difficulty:

• Understanding new and complex information 
• Learning new skills
• Coping independently 
• Managing money, reading, writing.

It’s important to remember that with the right support, most people with a learning disability in the UK can lead independent lives. Learning disability is often confused with dyslexia, ADHD and mental health problems. Dyslexia is described as a “learning difficulty” because, unlike learning disability, it does not affect intellect. Mental health problems can affect anyone at any time and may be overcome with treatment, which is not true of learning disability - for mental health support contact Single Point of Access

You have a primary support need that is linked to:

• Diagnosis of learning disability (IQ of 70 or less) 
• And/or Autism

How do I get a diagnosis?

You can visit your GP and ask them to make a referral to the RDaSH community learning disability services who can assess you for a learning disability and/or autism.

Under the Care Act 2014 the local authority will give you information and advice for early support and to prevent needs developing or they can undertake an assessment of your care and support needs. To make a referral you can contact us on 01302 737391 or  Contact Adult Social Care Form

If you meet the Care Act (2014) eligibility criteria and are eligible for social care, a care and support plan will be agreed and identified needs and outcomes can be met in a variety of ways:

• WellbeingSupport - early intervention and prevention, advice on accessing benefits and community activities 
• Commissioned services such as homecare, residential care provision, day support, respite, supported living.      
• Direct Payments to purchase your own support  
• Information about community groups and activities
• Help to live independently  
• Housing information and advice        
• Work, education and training             
• Information about accessible Transport or Travel Passes   
• Benefits and money management
• Advocacy

Each person who receives support will be given a financial assessment to see what they can contribute towards their own care financially- for more information about financial assessments and care charges please visit the Financial Assessments page.

If you care for someone with a learning disability and/or autism you may be eligible for a carers assessment of your own needs under the Care Act 2014. You can make a referral via by contacting us. There is also lots of useful carers information and support on our Carers page or the Carers Hub 

Check out the respite facilities available in Doncaster for adults with a learning disability, autism or both here!

Please visit our Safeguarding page to find out further information and to report any safeguarding concerns.   

We aim to support Adults at risk to retain independence and be able to live a life free from abuse and neglect. Everyone has the right to be safe, to be respected, to be heard. Everyone has a role to play to make this happen.            

Who is an adult at risk? Our safeguarding duties apply to a person aged 18 or over who:

• has needs for care and support
• is experiencing, or is at risk of, abuse or neglect
• is unable to protect themselves from abuse or neglect