A learning disability is a reduced intellectual ability and difficulty with everyday activities – for example, household tasks, socialising or managing money – which affects someone for their whole life.
People with a learning disability tend to take longer to learn and may need support to develop new skills, understand complicated information and interact with other people.
Did you know, there are around 200 million people with a learning disability worldwide? Every year the leading charity Mencap runs Learning Disability Week, a week dedicated to making sure the world hears what life is like if you have a learning disability. This year Mencap’s theme is ‘myth busting’, with an aim to smash worldwide misconceptions about what people with a learning disability can do and achieve. Directly highlighting these myths also shines a light on the stigma people with a learning disability face daily. Check out how Ellie Goldstein is smashing myths:
What can you do to recognise Learning Disability Week?
To show your support for Learning Disability Week you could:
Tell people you are supporting #LDWeek on your Social Media - you can find official Learning Disability Week graphics here: www.mencap.org.uk/LDWeek
Share inspirational stories told by people with a learning disability, like Abdul’s story: www.mencap.org.uk/blog/abduls-story
Start a fundraising campaign at your place of work, Mencap offer a free fundraising pack to help you with this: https://www.mencap.org.uk/blog/learning-disability-week-have-fun-learn-and-raise-funds
Take part in campaigns with Mencap: www.mencap.org.uk/get-involved/campaigning
How do we support people with learning disabilities at Easy Read Online?
We all deserve to interact with the world around us and live our lives in the way that we would like. Information is often vital for us to be able to do this - we use information to make informed decisions about our lives. Some people with learning disabilities might not be able to understand or decipher information in the same way as others, which may mean they lose agency over their lives. In 2010 the government introduced The Equalities Act, which posited that all organisations must make reasonable adjustments to how they work if asked to by a person with a disability.
Following this, in 2016 the Accessible Information Standard (AIS) was introduced. AIS is a law that aims to make sure that people who have a disability, impairment or sensory loss are provided health and care information in a way that they can easily read or understand. This means it is now the law for lots of different health and care services, like the NHS and Adult Social Care services to comply with AIS.
At Easy Read Online we create accessible information for services who are complying with both the Equalities Act and AIS. Our expert team translate information into easy, jargon-free language and add pictures that aid understanding of the information. To find out more about what we do you can visit our website
To find out more about what we do you, please have a look around our website:
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