Overshadowing

(To see a full sized version of this image click here) 

Overshadowing happens when one thing stops another being seen or diagnosed.

This does not just happen with learning disability, physcial ill health in older people can be seen as 'what do you expect - they are getting old'.

This means that illness and conditions can be missed. Individuals, their families and staff supporting them should know that people with a learning disability can also have mental health issues.

It is important that those are not 'just' seen as part of their learning disibility or 'overshadowed' by it.

The recently published Disability Rights Commission report ‘Equal Treatment: Closing the Gap’ states this can be due to ‘diagnostic overshadowing’, or more simply ‘a tendency to attribute health problems to a person’s learning disability’.

This is especially true when we consider behaviours that are called ‘challenging behaviour’. (DRC 2006 p69) Challenging behaviour can be due to a number of reasons but often mental health is not considered.

However having a learning disability is one of the most significant factors identified in increasing the risk of having a mental health problem.

Look at the Possible Causes checklist which may help identify a reason for a behaviour (for example it may not be a mental health problem at all but an undiagnosed physical illness)

Our privacy policy

Design and CMS by Ichameleon