What is Diagnostic Overshadowing?

Diagnostic Overshadowing

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Being in an environment such as a hospital can be scary for anyone, but for someone who has difficulty communicating because of a pre-existing diagnosis it must be even more frightening.  I do wish to add here that diagnostic overshadowing can also happen to people with dementia and any other condition that effects the ability to communicate. A lot more could and should be written about this as more people need to be aware that this does and can happen.

 

Individuals with a learning / speech difficulty often rely on their care givers who know them well to advocate for them. Whether it is parents, other family members, or care staff perhaps from a residential home. It is their responsibility to let others know what a person's life is like for them outside of a stressful environment.  Unfortunately care givers / family are also not always listened to or taken seriously.

There may also be a lack of training on how to support a person that has difficulty in expressing their needs or a one size fits all attitude rather than getting to know an individual on a personal level. 

 

Breakdown of communication

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Communication can break down completely and it can be a very dangerous situation leading to assumptions, misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, medication errors, and sadly premature death. But it is not always the communication that leads to problems. Assumptions about a person with a learning and ,or speech difficulty can be very dangerous and misleading. Often young people like Connor suffer with constipation due to their original diagnosis but unfortunately this could mask something more serious and new developing, especially in hospital.

 

Avoidable deaths

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It is well documented that people with a learning difficulty experience premature mortality at a much higher rate than the general population, up to 20 years earlier. Many of these deaths are considered preventable. 

 

This is unacceptable and if more care and attention was given to people who are non-verbal or have learning difficulties then hopefully, we can get this number down. There should be no avoidable deaths but we know it is sadly going to happen due to human error or lack of training but it should not happen due to lack of care and attention.

 

Studies

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Several reports have been conducted which make an interesting read which you can access online so I will not write too much about it but please look at the links provided as I feel it will help you understand just how often people with learning difficulties are misunderstood or undervalued.

 

Mencap have conducted studies which are called death by indifference and the treat me well Campaign. Studies and campaigns by Mencap aim to expose and address the inequalities so many individuals face. some of the reports go back as far as 2007 and probably even further The true stories of individuals and their families are shocking, but here we are today with my own personal story about Connor and attitudes and outcomes have not changed enough.