physical health

If a person who has a learning disability is banging their head, being silent, or laughing it is not always easy to understand what is happening with and to them. In this article, Jim Blair (Learning Disability Nursing Project Lead at the Royal College of Nursing and Clinical Advisor for Learning Disabilities at the Queens Nursing Institute) considers the ways people with learning disabilities can be supported to access the healthcare treatment they deserve but denied all too often.

71% of autistic adults in England aren't getting the support they need. This could mean up to 327,000 autistic adults aren’t getting help to do things other people take for granted, like socialising, managing money, or getting out and about.

In 2016, the UK government launched a groundbreaking drive to reduce the use of psychotropic drugs for people with autism and learning disabilities. But recent figures show that while prescribing rates for antipsychotics have fallen since the campaign’s launch, antidepressants, hypnotics, and stimulants have all risen.

Reasonable adjustments are adaptations and accommodations that should, in theory, minimise disadvantages faced by disabled people in education, employment, and housing, as well as services such as shops, hospitals, and banks. Darren Devine discusses how reasonable adjustments could look for people with a learning disability - but how far can they address health inequalities? 

Mencap Ambassador Emily Nicol, who has a learning disability, interviews Justin Tomlinson, Minister of State for Disabled People, Health and Work. They discuss confronting the discrimination and social isolation faced by people with a learning disability and how to bring people together through sport. 

Women with learning disabilities and autism are almost four times less likely to go for cervical cancer screening tests. Here, Darren Devine looks at the efforts being made to reverse one of the most stark health inequalities affecting potentially vulnerable women.

In collaboration with Slimming World, the University of Sheffield has conducted research into making weight loss programmes more accessible to people with learning disabilities. Now, Slimming World will roll out the adaptations to more than 5,000 consultants. 

Grainne Eloi, Interim Head of Mental Health Services at Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust, discusses how new technology reduces unnecessarily long hospital stays.

United Response has launched a project to make healthy eating accessible for people with learning disabilities. 

The Care Quality Commission has pledged to review restrictive interventions (restraint, prolonged seclusion, and segregation) in a variety of settings.

The largest in-depth study of cognitive abilities in people with Down’s syndrome means that clinical trials for preventing Alzheimer's disease may be possible. 

Optometrists who rely on auto-refractors could be losing vital skills for preserving eye health in individuals with Down’s syndrome and other learning disabilities, according to research.

Everyday life can present real challenges for people living with complex learning disabilities, even more so when health conditions such as diabetes come into play. But with determination, creativity and perseverance from providers and staff, service users can achieve their potential and have a good quality of life, as CMG’s chief executive, Peter Kinsey, explains.

A severe lack of understanding and research into the needs of people with learning disabilities and epilepsy is placing them at risk, according to experts from the University of Hertfordshire.