The aim of this section is to:

• Define what is meant by the term 'carer'
• Chart the development of carer awareness in public policy
• Raise awareness of the statutory rights of carers to both an assessment and support in current legislation
• Identify the key issues facing carer

Carers want:

• "Support to continue caring but minimise stress and disadvantage"
• " Be seen as people in their own right"

Diana Whitworth - Carers National Association

1 What do we mean by the term 'carer'?

Defining what we mean by 'carer' is important. People can and do get confused by the term. Carer can sometimes mean someone who works in carer services as a care worker. Or it can refer to a person who offers support and care to someone on an unpaid basis. The confusion about who and what a carer is has lead some people to differentiate between paid carers and informal or non-paid carers.

"Many people, who, on a daily basis, are offering care and support to a loved one, prefer to stress the family aspect of the relationship as in;"

• Family carer
• Parent carer
• Or plain - mum, dad or brother or sisters, aunt etc.

In the work for the DoH on the National Learning Disability Strategy Ð the sub group consulting with families of people with learning disabilities wanted to stress the family dimension of the relationships and called themselves family carers.

So, we can see the term 'carer' is at best elastic at worst somewhat confusing. As we will see below, in legislation the definition is broadly inclusive and does not confine itself to family relationships.

The fact remains that many families caring for a learning disabled person have difficulty relating to the term. Even though they might benefit if they did in terms of the sort of support on offer to 'carers' and the high priority carers have in public policy.