How people think about learning disability

This briefing sets out why we need a new story about learning disability. We need to:

• increase understanding of what a learning disability is
• explain what it means for people’s daily lives, at every age and stage
• build public support for greater action to ensure that people with a learning disability have access to the things we all need, like a home, a job, and connection to friends and family.

We need to start by understanding how people think about learning disability. Many of the foundational assumptions members of the public make about what a learning disability is, and how it impacts people’s lives, are challenging for communicators. For example, people assume that when we’re talking about a learning disability we are talking about challenges in school. Dyslexia is cited as the most common example despite dyslexia not being a learning disability, according to experts. As a result, people assume that all we need to do is give people a bit of extra time with academic tasks and everything will be fine. Also, the varied ways in which people with a learning disability are currently excluded from society are too often missing from view.

Alongside revealing how people think, this briefing makes initial recommendations for a new story. One that can build understanding and build support for action.

This briefing is also available as an Easy Read document – “Telling people about learning disability”.