There are a number of places to look for facts or figures about people with learning disabilities and the issues that affect their lives.
Improving Health and Lives: Learning Disability Observatory
The best place to begin is the Improving Health and Lives: Learning Disability Observatory. This is a partnership between the North East Public Health Observatory, the Centre for Disability Research at Lancaster University (CeDR) and the National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi). It is a three-year project funded by the Department of Health.
The Observatory aims to provide better, easier to understand, information on the health and wellbeing of people with learning disabilities.
You can find out more about their work on their website, look out for the section on 'Numbers', and the 'Links' section might be useful to you as well.
A key publication you will find there is
Estimating Future Need for Social Care among Adults with Learning Disabilities in England: An Update. This is an update to a 2008 publication by Eric Emerson and Chris Hatton of estimates of the need for adult social care support among people with learning disabilities in England. Covers the period 2009-2026.
Centre for Disability Research (CeDR) at Lancaster University
They Centre for Disability Research at Lancaster University is active in research and teaching on disability and disablism.They take pride in the impact of their research and scholarship on policy making and social practices in disability arenas – regionally, nationally and internationally.
Follow the link on their home page for Resources and Publications. There are some very useful documents you an download, including People with Learning Disabilities in England, and Estimating Future Need for Adult Social Care Services for People with Learning Disabilities in England, both by Eric Emerson and Chris Hatton and commissioned in 2008 by Mencap and the Learning Disability Coalition.
The Office for Disability Issues (ODI)
The Office for Disability Issues (ODI) leads the government’s vision of achieving equality for disabled people. They are a cross-government organisation that works with government departments, disabled people and a wide range of external groups.
They are responsible for gathering and monitoring evidence of the government’s progress towards disability equality. The areas covered reflect the experiences of disabled people.
ODI’s statistics are based on the latest official research available. They are sourced and dated, and regularly maintained.
Visit their research and statistics page.
Social Care Institute for Excellence
The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) improves the lives of people who use care services by sharing knowledge about what works. They gather and analyse knowledge about what works and translate that knowledge into practical resources, learning materials and services.
They also provide the Social Care Online research resource, which they describe as ' the UK's most complete range of information and research on all aspects of social care and social work. You can search for information by making learning disabilities your 'Hot Topic' and you can further select, for example, by searching by 'statistics'. You can download many of the reports.
The NHS Information Centre
The NHS Information Centre says it 'is England's central, authoritative source of health and social care information for frontline decision makers'. Their Learning Disabilities section has reports on spending on adult social care in this area.
Department for Children, Schools and Families
The latest national statistics on Special Educational Needs produced by the Department for Education were released on 30th June 2011 according to the arrangements approved by the UK Statistics Authority.
Scotland
You can search 'Learning Disabilities' on the statistics website for the Scottish Government, one key document is 'The Population with Learning Disabilities in Scotland - A Review of Existing Data', which you can download.
Wales
The statistics website for the Welsh Government has statements on the number of people registered as learning disabled with their local Council, and the number with statements of special education needs. There is also a StatWales website where, by searching by 'learning disabilities' you can find out more by Welsh county.
Northern Ireland
The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency compiles statics for Northern Ireland. Search by 'learning disabilities'. The Northern Ireland Neighbourhood Information Service provides data on numbers registered as learning disables with their local Counil and those having statements of special education needs.
If you provide, or can recommend any source of data or information about people with learning disbilities, please let us know at enquiries@bild.org.uk
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