research features

Joanna Grace is a Sensory Engagement and Inclusion Specialist, author, trainer, TEDx speaker, and Founder of The Sensory Projects. Here, she writes for Learning Disability Today about her research examining how we can best use sensory rooms to support people.

On 31/10/19, we facilitated a #LDTchat on people with learning disabilities being excluded from autism research. Catch up on what was discussed here.

Karen Watchman works with people with learning disabilities in both practice and in an academic setting. She spoke to LDT 2018 delegates about how to support people with a learning disability and dementia.  

Recent research shows that therapeutic horse riding has many benefits for autistic children: from a reduction in hyperactivity, to an improvement in word fluency. 

Explores whether CBT can be adapted and used effectively for people with learning disabilities. 

Medical cannabis will be available on prescription from this autumn after home secretary Sajid Javid said those facing an “exceptional clinical need” could use it - but who will be eligible?

It can go hand-in-hand with physical, financial and sexual abuse and see people victimised by extended families. And new research shows people with learning disabilities may be among the most vulnerable when it comes to forced marriage. Darren Devine reports.

Aquatic therapy goes beyond decreasing stress - it is showing results in developing speech.

Imagine seeing and tasting a favourite song as well as being drawn to its familiar melody. This is how those with synesthesia — a condition where the senses are joined — can experience the world. Darren Devine reports.

An appeal for diagnoses to be made more constructively has been published.

“Nothing about us without us” — it’s the mantra of the movement that has moved from the fringes of the autism community to centre stage. 

'Because of the status society puts on being in a relationship, people with learning disabilities are not unique in sometimes tolerating being treated badly to maintain a relationship.'

Most countries have signed up to a UN principle that disability-based legal defences are infantalising and contravene the human right to equal treatment. However, people often end up 'detained for treatment' rather than detained in prison anyway. What should be done? Experts from the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law discuss.

Health may be unpredictable but opportunities should be universal – that’s a value we hold dear at Learning Disability Today. It will underpin everything you experience at our upcoming learning and exhibition day in London on November 22. We will be joined by some of the most respected voices in social care and empowerment including Choice Support, Mencap and former health minister (currently shadow health minister) Norman Lamb MP.  

Paula Dunn discusses how to approach coaching people with learning disabilities, role models and eligibility to compete in 'T20' events.