You know best what you need and how your PA should be trained to perform their role. There will be many areas of training that you may wish to deliver yourself especially for those personal tasks that you need them to do for you. You may need to include some of these in the induction.

For instance:

• Personal grooming
• Hair
• Nails
• Make up
• Shaving
• Bathing
• Dressing
• Going to the toilet
• Eating and drinking
• Skin care
• Massage
• Alternative therapies
• Telephone skills (if you want them to answer your telephone, how would you like them to do so?)
• IT skills
• Cooking
• Cleaning
• Shopping
• Gardening
• Pet care
• Maintaining equipment eg wheelchair, hoist etc.

Your PA must understand different roles they must perform and respect you in your own home. Areas that you may wish to discuss/instruct are

• Confidentiality
• Advocacy
• Personal Centred Planning
• Professional boundaries
• Empowerment
  
• Time Management
• Communication
• Dignity
• Security
  

The role of your PA is to support you to live independently and to follow your rules. You will need to explain your rules and instruct your PA to ensure they understand their role.

Are you happy to provide your PA with all the information they need to know regarding specific issues related to your disability? For example:

• Autism
• Medication
• Pain management
  Self harm
• Diabetes.
  

If you have more than one PA you may choose for your new member of staff to shadow them as part of learning their new role.

Some of this may involve external training. For example;

• Social Model of disability - Does your PA need to understand the politics of disability and the position of disabled people in the UK today?

• Disability equality- does your PA need to understand different aspects of disability and how to challenge discrimination?

You may decide that your PA needs to have an understanding of the laws supporting independent living to help give the support you need. For example you may need them to know about:

Disability Discrimination Act - do you need your Pa to know your rights to access service buildings? For more information go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disability_Discrimination_Act_2005#Amending_legislation

Community Care Act - do you want your PA to understand more about the laws which enable disabled people to live independently? For more information go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Health_Service_and_Community_Care_Act_1990

Care Quality Commission - do you want your PA to understand more about the government body that regulates care providers and local councils in England and Wales? For more information go to:
www.cqc.org.uk

Equal Opportunities - Do you need your PA to understand diversity, cultural, gender or sexuality issues? For more information go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_opportunity

POVA (protection of vulnerable adults) - do you need your PA to understand your vulnerabilities as a disabled person? For more information go to:
http://www.scie.org.uk/publications/guides/guide12/understanding/index.asp