Rehabilitation and Mobility Officers work across six localities providing a specialist service to both adults and children living in North Lanarkshire with a range of sensory impairments. Their role includes:

• assessing and delivering training programmes in areas of independent daily living, such as personal care and cooking
• offer an environmental aids assessment
• orientation and mobility training ranging from sighted guiding to long cane training to enable confident and safe independent travel
• advice on employment, retention and access to work as required
• communication - training in the use of braille and moon, advice on sign language, deaf/blind manual, lip speaking, advice on assistive technology such as specialist apps
• contributing to assessment and care management
• contributing to transitional planning for young people transitioning between schools and school leavers
• link with local community groups who provide socialisation and support
• sensory impairment awareness training

The service links closely with Education, Housing, Voluntary Organisations and third-sector organisations. These include Lanarkshire Deaf Services, Lanarkshire Deaf Club, Visibility, Guide Dogs, RNIB, etc.  We also work closely with colleagues in Ophthalmology, Optometry, Audiology, Stroke Neurology and have developed clear referral pathways between services.  We liaise with local Opticians in accordance with Lanarkshire’s Low Vision Project to provide easy access to low visual aids (magnifiers) for those whose vision cannot be fully corrected by spectacles or contact lenses.

Visual Impairment

Registration as Sight/Severely Sight Impaired

North Lanarkshire Council is required to maintain a register of all people who are Sight Impaired or Severely Sight Impaired following certification by a Consultant Ophthalmologist.  When consent is provided, the person is placed on the register. A registration certificate is posted with an accompanying letter advising of contact details of the locality Rehab Officer. 

Sight loss can have a significant impact on a person’s independence and wellbeing. Registration can help enable people to access services and supports to enable them to retain or regain their independence.  It should be noted, registration is not a requirement to receive services from North Lanarkshire Council Rehabilitation and Mobility Officers.

Children are no longer certified/registered however, we continue to offer support and training as required. We accept referrals from families, from Visual Impairment Network for Children and Young People (VINCYP) and/or Education and any other source.

Hearing Impairment

There is no requirement to hold and maintain a register of people who are deaf or hard of hearing.  However, we have a clear referral process and working partnership with Audiology Departments across Lanarkshire.

We also provide a service to those with a dual sensory loss and work with partnership agencies to utilise interpreting services. We also arrange British Sign Language Interpretation/Guide Communicator for Social Work appointments.

We offer a range of specialist support, advice and information. We can be contacted by email at sensoryimpairmentenquires@northlan.gov.uk. The referral process is the same as for community care assessment and an assessment can be requested through the online contact form, or by calling your local social work office, or through the Making Life Easier website.