Help and Support
Access information about specialist services, support organisations, and resources available to those with learning disabilities. These articles guide you towards the practical help and guidance you need.
Advocacy and Learning Disabilities
When the UK Government published their white paper Valuing People in 2001, it was made clear that they wanted to improve the choices and life opportunities a...
Advocacy for Individuals With Learning Disabilities
People with learning disabilities may not be able to live independently on a day-to-day basis. To have the same opportunities and rights as every one else in...
All About Adult Placement Services
Adult placement services are also known under the relatively new term of Shared Lives Schemes. Local authorities through the UK provide shared lives adult pl...
All About Self Directed Support
Previously people with learning disabilities have had little say in what services and support they receive. Ultimately, this rigid approach has meant that th...
Becoming a Carer for a Child with a Learning Disability
Did you know that you could be a carer and not even realise it? A carer normally refers to an informal carer; that is, they provide care on an ad hoc and unp...
Becoming a Carer for an Adult with a Learning Disability
There are several reasons why one might become a carer for an adult with learning disabilities. The most common scenario is when a child with learning disabi...
Challenging Behaviour and the Use of Medication
The use of medication to manage challenging behaviour in people with learning disabilities remains highly controversial. This overview is not intended as a d...
Depression and Learning Disabilities
It is thought that around 1 in 20 people will experience depression in their lives, and as such is considered a common condition. There is also evidence to s...
Financial Support for Carers
It is not uncommon for people with severe or profound learning disabilities to have physical and mental impairments that require constant care. It is also no...
Gaining Life Skills
Although, in theory people with learning disabilities should have the same rights, choices and opportunities as non-disabled people, in reality this is not a...
Healthcare Support and Entitlements
Since the closure of NHS long-stay hospitals, the mainstream NHS has struggled somewhat to make adequate provisions for people with learning disabilities. Ho...
Housing Support and Entitlements
Many people with learning disabilities are unable to live completely independently. They may have physical or mental impairments that mean that they struggle...
Maintaining a Social Life When you Have a Disability
Some people with learning disabilities may have difficulty in socialising within mainstream society. This can be for one or more reasons; they may have a phy...
NHS Campuses for People With Learning Disabilities
In decades gone by, the Government provided for patients that required ongoing healthcare and treatment via long stay hospitals. Patients with severe or prof...
Support for Parents of People With A Learning Disability
If you are the parent of a person with a learning disability, it is quite normal to spend a proportion of your time feeling overwhelmed and isolated. Accepti...
Support for Siblings of Young People With Learning Disabilities
Everybody’s family circumstances are different. For siblings of children with learning disabilities, however, family life is often more complex than it is...
Transport for People with Learning Disabilities
People with learning disabilities are amongst some of the most isolated and socially excluded people within society. However, since 2001 and the publishing o...
What Are Day Services?
In recent years the Government has been taking steps to improve what is known as self-centred planning. They are trying to ensure that people with learning d...
What is Positive Behaviour Support?
Many people with learning disabilities may, due to psychological, biological or social reasons, exhibit challenging behaviour. Challenging behaviour is conte...
What is 'Time Out'?
Anybody with a learning disability may, at times, display what is known as ‘challenging behaviour’. Challenging behaviour can be summarised as “cultura...