Facts about learning disability

Most people with a learning disability are treated as ‘different'.

They do not have the same control over their own lives as the rest of our society and face challenges and prejudice every day.

• Less than 1 in 5 people with a learning disability work (compared with 1 in 2 disabled people generally), but we know that at least 65% of people with a learning disability want to work. Of those people with a learning disability that do work, most only work part time and are low paid.

• Just 1 in 3 people with a learning disability take part in some form of education or training.

• Children with a learning disability are often socially excluded and 8 out of 10 children with a learning disability are bullied. 
  
• 1 in 2 families with a disabled child live in poverty.

• At least half of all adults with a learning disability live in the family home - meaning that many don't get the same chances as other people to gain independence, learn key skills and make choices about their own lives.

• 58,000 people with a learning disability are supported by day care services.

• People with a learning disability are 58 times more likely to die aged under 50 than other people. And four times as many people with a learning disability die of preventable causes as people in the general population.  
  
• 75% of GPs have received no training to help them treat people with a learning disability.

• Less than a third of people with a learning disability have some choice of who they live with, and less than half have some choice over where they live.  
  
• 7 out of 10 families caring for someone with profound and multiple learning disabilities have reached or come close to ‘breaking point' because of a lack of short break services.

• 29,000 adults with a learning disability live with parents aged 70 or over, many of whom are too old or frail to continue in their caring role. In only 1 in 4 of these cases have local authorities planned alternative housing.

Mencap is here to make sure people with a learning disability have the chance to change the world they live in and live their lives as they choose.