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What is a learning disability?
Posted: 13th Oct 2010
We are interesting in finding out more about how you all describe what a learning disability is.
What would you say to someone who asked you: "what is a learning disability?".
At Mencap we have our own definition of what a learning disability is but it would be great to hear what you all think.
Comments
As father and carer of a 25 year old daughter with Down Syndrome I am passionate about getting society to understand LD. I shock myself as I reflect on the question of a definition by thinking that most of our society would probably recognise “mentally handicapped” better than any other definition. That shows how little progress we have made. I fear that especially in this time of threats to services and support the definition has to be negative (i.e. what LD is not) to avoid resources being used on people who do not have LD but think they have. The key part for me is the inability/difficulty someone with LD has in normal socialisation due to their own disability and society’s prejudices.
I have recently read the article in Mencap’s Viewpoint magazine and am quite shocked at how there is no standard definition for a learning disability and there needs to be one so that services and benefits can be planned and accessed in a fair standardised way.
I believe that Mencap’s definition is good however needs to also include the fact that Learning Disability is not mental illness, dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, dyspraxia or Aspergers syndrome. This would mean that all professionals would know that this term is only for those with a lower learning ability and therefore those who have the greater vulerability and need.
Perhaps this is the time to say they have a brain impairment or something a bit more medical/physiological? ...
A big problem in getting a common understanding about learning disability is that we don’t have a sensible term for it. “Learning disability” is misleading and causes many people to think it’s not very serious. “Learning difficulty” is even worse – people think it’s just not being very good at maths at school!
We need a simple plain-English descriptive term that would enable the whole community to instantly understand what we’re talking about.
And we should avoid letting useful terms be spoilt by misguided sensitivity. This happened with “mental handicap”, a clear simple term that everyone understood until it was demonised.
Why does the definition exclude those with acquired learning disabilities? The practicalities and discrimination they face may be exactly the same.
Take acquired brain injury for instance – often the person is left with a lifelong learning disability but is not always recognised because Mencap’s definition states it must have been present from birth or have happened during ‘childhood’. What difference does it make if that person acquired their disability at 17 or 18?
I am emailing on behalf of Speak Up Sutton-A service user involvement group of adults with learning disabilities.
Below are their ideas…
- You may not be able to see that someone has a learning disability
- Learning disability affects different people differently
- People with learning disabilities should be treated as individuals but have equal rights.
A learning disabilty is a socially defined condition where individuals or groups of individuals are regarded as being unable, or slow to learn the social norms or practical skills in order to function to an acceptable standard in a given society. The stress is on social competence and understanding.
if you cannot help yourself, or if you need a carer to help you.
Well i would discribe that that i have a learining disabilties and i think it means that i have difficulties with contacting people when i work at the office.
I have a mental illness and people who don’t understand me when i have a learning Disabilties.
“Learning disability vs Learning difficulty”. For me, as a father of a child suffering from Autism is very hard to hear that my girl is disabled at learning. I do accept the term of difficulty at learning and understanding (in our way) the world around us. Would be right and fair to label a person that struggle to learn a simple maths task with learning disability?. Who doesn’t have an achilles heel to core asset? I do believe that Learning Disability label should be change to learning difficulty terminology. It sounds less discriminatory and less cruel.
If you have a learning disability, you have difficulties with understanding. Other people can help by taking care to be very clear when they communicate and not rush. If people with learning disabilities receive the right assistance, they will be active members of their local community. Some people with a learning disability employ a support worker to provide them with help. Some people with a learning disability become well known and help everybody to understand learning disabilities much better.
A learning disability usually refers to someone with an IQ below 70 who has difficulty undertsanding, learning and remembering information.
A learing disability is a group of conditions which causes a person to have difficulties processing, understanding or storing information in convential ways.