Life for people with a learning disability can come with many challenges from accessing healthcare and paid work to dealing with discrimination and loneliness.
Some of these issues can be remedied by better representation of learning disability in the media and increased education and awareness around the use of reasonable adjustments.
For Learning Disability Week, Mencap have released the results of its Big Learning Disability Survey, which takes place every two years. It looks at issues such as healthcare, discrimination, money and support with the aim of using the results to campaign for change.
Nearly 2,000 people with a learning disability took part in the survey and here are the main findings.
Over 40% of those surveyed have not had an annual health check in the past year and of those who did, nearly 60% did not receive a health action plan.
When asked what one thing would have made their appointment better, the majority said better reasonable adjustments such as Easy Reads, shorter waiting times and longer appointment times.
Many people also expressed a desire for healthcare professionals to improve their knowledge and understanding of people with learning disabilities.
More positively, almost half (47.4%) of respondents reported that their most recent GP or hospital appointment was good, with one in 10 (12.9%) respondents feeling that it was poor.
Mencap said these findings underscore the importance of ensuring that all people with a learning disability are added to the learning disability register. Also steps must be taken to improve the number of people with a learning disability receiving accessible communications from GPs.
Almost one in three respondents (31.7%) said that they had felt lonely in the past week. The most common thoughts and feelings reported by respondents (in order) were “anxious”, “frustrated”, “confused”, and “worried”.
However, over two-thirds (66.4%) of respondents did report that they had felt happy in the past week, and over a quarter (25.2%) said that they had felt confident.
Over a third of people surveyed said that they would like to be in paid employment, yet the number of people in paid work was only 26.7%, a slight improvement from the previous survey in 2019. Of those in paid employment, four in 10 (39.7%) said they work 16 hours or less in a week.
People who said they are worried about living costs were more likely to have a paid job compared to people who said they are not worried about living costs.
In addition, people who live in London were more likely to have a paid job compared to people who live in the rest of the UK.
Barriers to accessing employment included attitudes of employers and a lack of good quality support in getting and maintaining employment.
Over four in 10 (41.1%) respondents reported that they did not go out in the past month because they were worried. The most common reason was because people were calling them names or bullying them.
People who said they were worried about going out in the past month were more likely to have felt lonely compared to people who said they were not worried about going out in the past month.
Almost seven out of every 10 (69.6%) respondents reported that they would go to their family or friends for help and support when being treated unfairly, but over one in 10 (12.3%) said that they did not know where to go for help.
Mencap said that these findings demonstrate a need for greater awareness of the different types of support available for people with a learning disability experiencing psychological or emotional abuse, such as bullying.
Interestingly, over half (53.6%) of people with a learning disability said that they are not worried about money and financial support.
This might be explained, in part, as most respondents shared that their parent/carer or financial deputy is largely or wholly responsible for their finances and so they do not manage their own money.
Results show that people who live independently were more likely to worry about money and support compared to people who live with others.
Mencap concluded by saying that people with a learning disability aspire to live in a society that is welcoming and inclusive, where they are treated as equals, and afforded the same opportunity to lead a happy and healthy life.
The report added: “Our results show that people with a learning disability have a strong desire to improve their lives across a broad range of areas. Respondents shared that a range of things would make their life better, including getting a paid job, getting more personal support, tackling discrimination, a lower cost of living, and greater independence.
“Others discussed that they would like to have better health and healthcare, to be in a relationship, and to be able to go on holiday. These responses illustrate that there is a need for improved support for people with learning disabilities across different areas such as employment and care and support.”
