Statistics about people with learning disabilities

More statistics about people with learning disabilities

• How many people have a learning disability?

• Will there be more people with learning disabilities in the future?

• Where do people with learning disabilities live?

• How many people with learning disabilities work?

• How does the health of people with learning disabilities compare to the health of other people?

• What do people with learning disabilities say about their lives?

• How can person centred planning improve the lives of people with learning disabilities?

Different organisations define learning disabilities in different ways and statistics about people with learning disabilities also vary. There is often no clear consensus. The figures below are taken from some of the most commonly used sources.

How many people have a learning disability?

• About 985,000 people in England have a learning disability (about 2% of the population). 796,000 of them are aged 20 or over

- Estimating Future Need/Demand for Supports for Adults with Learning Disabilities

in England, Institute for Health Research, Lancaster University (2004)

• There are 55,000-75,000 children with a moderate or severe learning disability in England

- Learning disabilities: facts and figures, Department of Health (accessed  online 2007)

• There are an estimated 210,000 people with severe and profound learning disabilities in England: around 65,000 children and young people, 120,000 adults of working age and 25,000 older people

- Valuing People, Department of Health (2001)

• Only 20% of adults with learning disabilities are known to learning disability services

- note to Adults with learning difficulties in England 2003/4,

 National Statistics & NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre (2004)

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Will there be more people with learning disabilities in the future?

• The number of adults with learning disabilities is predicted to increase by 11 per cent between 2001 and 2021. This would raise the number of people in England aged 15 and above with learning disabilities to over one million in 2021.

- Estimating Future Need/Demand for Supports for Adults with Learning Disabilities

in England, Institute for Health Research, Lancaster University (2004)

• The number of adults with learning disabilities aged over 60 is predicted to increase by 36 per cent between 2001 and 2021

- Estimating Future Need/Demand for Supports for Adults with Learning Disabilities

in England, Institute for Health Research, Lancaster University (2004)

The increase in the number of people with a learning disability may be explained by:

• increased life expectancy, especially among people with Down’s syndrome

• growing numbers of children and young people with complex and multiple disabilities who now survive into adulthood

• a sharp rise in the reported numbers of school age children with autistic spectrum disorders, some of whom will have learning disabilities

• greater prevalence among some minority ethnic populations of South Asian origin

- Valuing People, Department of Health (2001)

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Where do people with learning disabilities live?

• About 60% of adults with learning disabilities live with their families

- Valuing People, Department of Health (2001)

• About 39,500 people with learning disabilities live in care homes and hospitals. This is about a third of all the people in touch with learning disability services. About 11,000 of these people live ‘out of area’, that is away from their home area.

- Valuing People – what do the numbers tell us? (2005)

• Around 34,000 people with learning disabilities are getting help from support workers paid for by the Supporting People programme. Most of these people live in hostels or shared housing.

- Valuing People – what do the numbers tell us? (2005)

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How many people with learning disabilities work?

• 17% of people with learning disabilities who are of working age have a paid job

- Adults with learning difficulties in England 2003/4,

 National Statistics & NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre (2004)

• About one in ten people with learning disabilities who are in touch with services are doing any form of paid work

- Valuing People – what do the numbers tell us? (2005)

• About one in 20 people with learning disabilities have an unpaid job

- Adults with learning difficulties in England 2003/4,

 National Statistics & NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre (2004)

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How does the health of people with learning disabilities compare to the health of other people?

• About one person in three with a learning disability is obese compared to one in five of the general population

- Equal Treatment: Closing the Gap Interim Report, Disability Rights Commission (2005)

• People with learning disabilities are 2.5 times more likely to have health problems than other people

- Equal Treatment: Closing the Gap, Disability Rights Commission (2006)

• Four times as many people with learning disabilities die of preventable causes as people in the general population

- Equal Treatment: Closing the Gap, Disability Rights Commission (2006)

• People with learning disabilities are 58 times more likely to die before the age of 50 than the general population

- Equal Treatment: Closing the Gap, Disability Rights Commission (2006)

• Children and young people with learning disabilities are 6 times more likely to have mental health problems than other young people

- The Mental Health of Children and Adolescents with Learning Disabilities in Britain,

 Institute for Health Research, Lancaster University (2007)

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What do people with learning disabilities say about their lives?

• Over half of people with learning disabilities say someone else decides how much money they can spend each week

• The friends that people with learning disabilities see most often are friends who also have learning disabilities

• Almost one in three people with learning disabilities say they do not have any contact with friends. One in twenty have no friends and do not see anyone from their family.

• About a quarter of people with learning disabilities say they would not change what they do in the daytime. Over a third say they would not change what they do in the evening.

• 40 per cent of people say they would like more say in what goes on in their everyday life.

• Nearly one in three people say they did not feel safe using public transport

• Nearly one in three people with learning disabilities said someone had been rude or offensive to them in the last year. In most cases, the person who bullied them was a stranger.

• People with learning disabilities are more likely to have a long-term illness or another disability than other people

• Only one in four women have ever had a cervical smear

• More than one in ten people with learning disabilities say they never feel confident

- all from Adults with learning difficulties in England 2003/4,

National Statistics & NHS Health and Social Care Information Centre (2004)

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How can person centred planning improve the lives of people with learning disabilities?

One study found that person centred planning is linked to benefits for people with learning disabilities in:

• community involvement
• contact with friends
• contact with family
• choice

- The Impact of Person Centred Planning, Institute for Health Research (2005)

An evaluation of self-directed support for people with learning disabilities in six pilot sites found that after its introduction:

• 94% of people were happy with their home, compared to 65% beforehand
• satisfaction with community life rose from 61% of people to 100%
• the number of people taking important decisions about their own lives doubled

- A Report on in Control’s first phase 2003-2005 (2006)

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Updated in 2007

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