UK Learning Disability Week 2025

It’s UK Learning Disability Week, taking place every year during the third week of June, and this year it’s running from 17 to 23 June!

The theme this year is “Do you see me?”, which is all about people with a learning disability being seen, heard and valued. The aim of the week is to celebrate what people with a learning disability bring to society. It is about challenging the barriers people with a learning disability face.
 

Did you know that:

1. It is estimated that there are 1.5million people in the UK with a learning disability
2. Only 26.7% of adults with a learning disability are employed, yet 86% of unemployed people with a learning disability want a paid job
3. 1 in 3 people with a learning disability spend less than 1 hour outside their home on a typical Saturday
4. Over 2,000 people with a learning disability and/or autistic people are currently in mental health hospitals

Health and people with a learning disability

Health inequalities that people with a learning disability can experience are partly caused by poor quality healthcare. As well as this, there are a number of health conditions that people with a learning disability are more likely to experience, including epilepsy and dementia. Mencap have specifically researched health inequalities and mental health to understand the impacts on people with a learning disability, further detailed below.

Mental health

While people with a learning disability can be more likely to experience poor mental health, it is important to remember that learning disability should not be confused with mental health problems.

Mental health problems can affect anyone at any time and may be overcome with treatment, which is not true of learning disability. Some studies suggest the rate of mental health problems in people with a learning disability is double that of the general population. This could be due to a number of reasons, with four types of risk factors outlined below:

1. Biology and genetics may increase vulnerability to mental health problems
2. A higher incidence of negative life events
3. Access to fewer resources and coping skills
4. The impact of other people’s attitudes

Health inequalities

People with a learning disability have worse physical and mental health than people without a learning disability. On average, women with a learning disability die 23 years younger than women in the general population. On average, men with a learning disability die 20 years younger than men in the general population (LeDeR, 2023; ONS, 2022).

Poor quality healthcare causes health inequalities and avoidable deaths. The Confidential Inquiry into premature deaths of people with a learning disability also found that 38% of people with a learning disability died from an avoidable cause, compared to 9% in a comparison population of people without a learning disability (Heslop et al. 2013, p. 92). LeDeR found that 42% of deaths of people with a learning disability were avoidable (LeDeR, 2023).
 
In addition, access to healthcare can be an issue, with people with a learning disability experiencing a number of barriers to accessing good quality healthcare. These barriers can include:

1. A lack of accessible transport links
2. Patients not being identified as having a learning disability
3. Staff having little understanding about learning disability
4. Failure to recognise that a person with a learning disability is unwell
5. Failure to make a correct diagnosis
6. Anxiety or a lack of confidence for people with a learning disability
7. Lack of joint working from different care providers
8. Not enough involvement allowed from carers
9. Inadequate aftercare or follow-up care.

Taking this into account, it is vital that we ensure that services are inclusive and we are able to ensure people with a learning disability are getting the right care in hospital. To find out more about this, please visit Mencap’s Going to Hospital Page.

Lastly, Mencap will be sharing a post each day this week on their website to look at:

1. Myth busting
2. Giving Tuesday
3. Benefits
4. Work
5. Health
6. Inclusion
7. Highlights

You can view yesterday’s 2 minute video on myth busting here and we recommend you keep an eye on the website for more information on the other upcoming topics!

Source: https://www.mencap.org.uk/