Learning Disability Week
18th – 24th June
Disabled children don't get the same chances as other children. They have to fight for their rights and their parents have to fight to get services.
What is a learning disability?
A learning disability is caused by the way the brain develops.
There are many different types and most develop before a baby is born, during birth or because of a serious illness in early childhood. A learning disability is lifelong and usually has a significant impact on a person's life.
Learning disability is not mental illness or dyslexia.
People with a learning disability find it harder than others to learn, understand and communicate. People with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) need full-time help with every aspect of their lives - including eating, drinking, washing, dressing and toileting.
Facts about learning disability
Most people with a learning disability are treated as ‘different'.
They do not have the same control over their own lives as the rest of our society and face challenges and prejudice every day.
Less than 1 in 5 people with a learning disability work (compared with 1 in 2 disabled people generally), but we know that at least 65% of people with a learning disability want to work. Of those people with a learning disability that do work, most only work part time and are low paid.
Just 1 in 3 people with a learning disability take part in some form of education or training.
Children with a learning disability are often socially excluded and 8 out of 10 children with a learning disability are bullied.
1 in 2 families with a disabled child live in poverty.
At least half of all adults with a learning disability live in the family home - meaning that many don't get the same chances as other people to gain independence, learn key skills and make choices about their own lives.
58,000 people with a learning disability are supported by day care services.
People with a learning disability are 58 times more likely to die aged under 50 than other people. And four times as many people with a learning disability die of preventable causes as people in the general population.
75% of GPs have received no training to help them treat people with a learning disability.
Less than a third of people with a learning disability have some choice of who they live with, and less than half have some choice over where they live.
7 out of 10 families caring for someone with profound and multiple learning disabilities have reached or come close to ‘breaking point' because of a lack of short break services.
29,000 adults with a learning disability live with parents aged 70 or over, many of whom are too old or frail to continue in their caring role. In only 1 in 4 of these cases have local authorities planned alternative housing.
For support
Foundation for people with learning disabilities http://www.learningdisabilities.org.uk/
About Learning Disabilities http://www.aboutlearningdisabilities.co.uk/about-self-directed-support.html
