Mencap is calling for:
- no further
cuts
Cuts are when there is less money to pay for things like clubs and support.
to welfare or
social care
Social care means the services that give care and support to people who need it.
and a commitment to address the growing funding crisis in social care - a renewed commitment to halving the disability
employment
Employment means having a job.
gap - commitment to tackle health inequalities faced by people with a
learning disability
A learning disability is to do with the way someone's brain works. It makes it harder for someone to learn, understand or do things.
in the NHS.
Jan Tregelles, chief executive at Mencap, said:
The new Prime Minister
The Prime Minister is the leader of the government
The Government are the people who run the country. The Government decide how much tax people should pay and how things like the National Health Service (NHS) should work. . has talked of a Government “for all of the people and all of the country,” this must include people with a learning disability who continue to suffer from inadequate healthcare, low employment levels, hate crime
A hate crime
A crime is when someone does something wrong and breaks the law
Laws are the rules that everyone in the country has to follow. If you don't follow the rules you can get in trouble with the police. . is when someone is hurt or bullied because of things like: their disability or their religion
Religion is to do with the things you believe about the world. For example you may believe there is a god or something else. Examples of religions are Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism. . and cuts to their care and benefits.
We want the new Prime Minister to ensure the lives of people with a learning disability are valued, respected and improved. The social care and benefit cuts we’ve already seen have had a profound impact on people with a learning disability and have pushed many to the margins of our society. Any further cuts could mean even lower levels of employment, poorer standards of healthcare and higher levels of poverty. As a minimum, we want no further cuts to be imposed and a commitment to address the growing funding crisis in social care. The new Prime Minister must also urgently address the national scandal that poor healthcare is leading to the avoidable deaths of 1,200 people with a learning every year in our NHS.
She must also finally show real action on driving forward the Government’s commitment to halve the disability employment gap. 8 out of 10 working age people with a learning disability have a mild or moderate learning disability and could work, but less than 2 in 10 are in employment. As it stands, very little progress has been made since the commitment was outlined and plans are still yet to be published.
Ismail Kaji, parliamentary affairs officer at Mencap and has a learning disability, said:
Before the EU Referendum, things were already challenging for people with a learning disability, in regards to benefit cuts, social care cuts, lack of employment opportunities, health issues. My question is, what will Theresa May do to improve the lives of people with a learning disability in the UK?
I’m concerned that the new Prime Minister could bring in further cuts. People with a learning disability have already faced so many cuts and many are struggling to make ends meet. If more money is taken away, I will have less money and I could fall in to debt. I’m worried how this will affect my job and mine and my family’s health and wellbeing.
We need to see improvements in the NHS. Over 1,200 people with a learning disability die avoidably in the NHS every year because of bad healthcare. The treatment that people with a learning disability receive at the moment is not consistent. There needs more focus on improving health services and building a better understanding from doctors and nurses of how to treat people with a learning disability.
Listening to the voices of people with a learning disability is the most important thing. I want the new Prime Minister to show us how she plans to tackle the disadvantage that so many people with a learning disability face.
-ENDS-
For further information or to arrange interviews, please contact the Mencap press office on 020 7696 5414 or media@mencap.org.uk or for out of hours 07770 656 659.
Notes to editors
About Mencap
There are 1.4 million people with a learning disability in the UK. Mencap works to support people with a learning disability, their families and carers by fighting to change laws, improve services and access to
education
Education is when you learn things. When you fill in a form to get a job, education means you write where you went to school, college or university.
, employment and
leisure
Leisure is when you have time to do things you enjoy like playing sports or going to the pub.
facilities. Mencap supports thousands of people with a learning disability to live their lives the way they want.
For advice and information about learning disability and Mencap services in your area, contact Mencap Direct on 0808 808 1111 (9am-5pm, Monday-Friday) or email help@mencap.org.uk
What is a learning disability?
A learning disability is a reduced intellectual ability which can cause problems with everyday tasks – for example shopping and cooking, or travelling to new places – which affects someone for their whole life.
People with a learning disability can take longer to learn new things and may need support to develop new skills, understand difficult information and engage with other people. The level of support someone needs is different with every individual. For example, someone with a severe learning disability might need much more support with daily tasks than someone with a mild learning disability.
Learning disability is not a mental illness or a learning difficulty. Very often the term ‘learning difficulty’ is wrongly used interchangeably with ‘learning disability’.