Disability, a disabled person with learning difficulties being cared for by a voluntary care worker
A developmental disability is a condition that can affect an individual’s ability to work independently. People with this condition may need support in almost all of their undertakings. Anyone taking care of a person with a developmental challenge is referred to as a caregiver.
Caregivers provide basic care to people with developmental disabilities by helping them with cooking, feeding, bathing, dressing, driving, giving them medicine, keeping them company, and offering them emotional support.
What Is A Developmental Disability?
Ideally, a disability is a term used to refer to impairment of functioning. Functional impairment can either affect an individual’s body or mental health. A developmental disability is an impairment that affects an individual’s physical, cognitive, and behavioral development.
The affected person might have delays in development or fail to function like an average person of their age. It can affect any person regardless of their age, gender, race, and their economic status.
Causes Of Developmental Disabilities
Different factors can cause developmental challenges. Some occur before birth due to an error in the genetic coding of the chromosomes. This condition is known as congenital defects. Examples of congenital defects are fragile X syndrome and down syndrome.
Other developmental disabilities are genetically inherited. They mostly occur as a result of infections during pregnancy. An example of developmental disability due caused by an infection is toxoplasmosis.
Home Care Housing For People With Developmental Disabilities
Person with Down syndrome accompanied by an assistant to help him.
While you may think that housing for adults is meant for old individuals, any person of any age suffering from developmental disabilities can benefit as well. These homes provide a suitable environment where caregivers can interact with the affected people and help them with typical daily activities like taking medicine, bathing, cooking, and feeding.
Apart from helping with daily activities, caregivers use these homes as a platform to provide emotional support and social interactions to the affected individuals.
How To Support Individuals With Mental Disabilities
- Be An Advocate
As a caregiver, you need to be the spokesperson of the affected individual. Remember that you’ll be spending much of your time with them, including taking them to the hospital and social events. So, you’ll be required to know what the affected person likes and what they don’t like.
Even when you take them to the hospital, you’re the one to inform the doctor of any special condition or circumstances you’ve observed that needs more attention.
- Be Empowering
Always encourage and appreciate people with developmental challenges. Help them celebrate their achievements and assist them in engaging with others. Teach them to be independent to help them develop self-esteem so that they can be able to believe in themselves. It’s only through believing in themselves that they can be able to take charge of their lives.
- Encourage Changing Roles
People living with developmental disabilities need to be supported to become independent as much as possible. Even after they’ve grown up, you need to support them but in a new and meaningful ways.
Maybe at this time, they can do most of their daily routine tasks, but still, you can support them by the words from your mouth. For example, encouraging them not to lose hope and sometimes supporting them physically. But whatever you do, you must adapt your role to allow them to grow mentally and experience adulthood.
- Find Supports
People with developmental disabilities need a lot of support from their relatives or caregivers. This support includes managing medical conditions and providing mental support. When these people become adults, they also need support like home care professional support, job coaching, and vocational rehabilitation.
Each individual will require special support depending on the circumstance and your residential location. So, you need to talk with the affected person to know what kind of support they might require. For instance, a particular individual might need your assistance when finding a job, while another individual might need your help when they are at work. Whichever the case, be sure to support them until they become successful.
Takeaway
If you’re struggling to give enough support to someone with a developmental problem, you need to talk with other caregivers in a similar situation like that of you. You can arrange them and hold meetings to learn from each other on how you can best support individuals living with developmental challenges.
When offering your support, it’s good to set realistic goals. Ideally, the process to recovery might always not be straight. You might experience some setbacks, but you shouldn’t give up. Even when you feel as if your support isn’t making a big difference, it’s likely making a difference for the affected person. Finally, if you see the condition worsening, it would be helpful to contact a health worker for assistance.