Achieving Outcomes: a game of choice and chance  

Introduction   

Over the course of the New Models for Learning Disability Day Support Collaborative the ihub team and three HSCP project teams engaged with a 236 people with a learning disability and their families. This engagement explored, but was not limited to, their experience of: 

• Identifying and accessing new opportunities,
• What outcomes people aspire to, and
• The barriers they face in trying to reach outcomes and access new opportunities  

In asking these questions we learned of the scale of inequality that people with a learning disability experience in trying to exercise their human right to choose, and how the health and social services system can exacerbate this inequality.  

We chose to demonstrate this learning in an experiential way, not through a document for people to read, but creating something which would enable stakeholders to experience, and reflect on, the learning for themselves.  

This resulted in the creation of Achieving Outcomes: a game of choice and chance. The game is based on our initial User Journey Map on Accessing New Opportunities, but incorporates factors that impact on people’s choices which were not present in the initial User Journey Map.  

In this game you will play as a person with a learning disability trying to achieve their outcome. As you progress through the board you will encounter different points which arise in a person’s journey to accessing new support or services to achieve their outcome:  

• Some represent generic steps in the user journey,  
• Some represent opportunities where you’ll find ladders to short-cut to a different point in the journey, 
• Some represent barriers which have snakes to send you backwards,  
• And some represent sticking points in the journey illustrated by traffic lights.   

Throughout the game we encourage reflection on how players are feeling, and how the experiences represented in the game compare with what your service users experience.  

This game is a learning resource for anyone in health and social services who support people with learning disabilities and their families aligned with the Keys to Life Outcomes.

“It showed inequalities for people, some were able to shoot to the top and there were no barriers in the way, but others got stuck in a loop coming up against constant barriers this highlights the frustrations individuals face”

Source: 9 March 2023 National Learning Event participant reflection on playing the game

What you will need to play

• Download and print the game board in A3 
• Tokens for each player 
• 2 dice 

How to play 

• 2-6 players  
• Everyone starts at the square labelled “START” 
• Take turns rolling the dice and move the appropriate number of squares on the game board
  • Each square is numbered to make this easier to follow 
  • Rolling a double does not give you another go 

• When you land on a square with writing on it read it out to the other players before taking any action it might require of you.
  • Reflect on how any action taken makes you feel. 
  • Reflect on how it relates to what you know about your service users experience 

• The game ends when a player reaches their outcome, the final square, first.  

Reflections 

To support the learning from this tool we encourage participants to reflect on the following: 

• Did you feel in control of the decisions and path you took? 
• Does the path you took represent a similar experience for service users? 
• Did it take longer for some people than others to attain their outcome? 
• How might these sorts of experiences be explored within your service?