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Learning and physical disabilities

Disabled people 'twice as likely' to miss out on careers, courses and holidays

Disabled people are almost twice as likely as able-bodied people not to be able to work, have a holiday or take courses according to a bleak assessment in the first official survey of people with disabilities since 1997.

Independent Living Fund to be shut down by 2015

The £359m Independent Living Fund which supports more than 21,000 people with severe disabilities is to be phased out by 2015. The ILF pays out an average of £300 a week, to help people pay for carers so they can live at home and not in a care home.

A whirlwind of hatred against the disabled

In response to news that three 18-year olds who tortured a younger autistic teenager for three days have been given community service orders and curfews. Ian Birrell the father of a child with profound learning difficulties asks "just how far are we, as a society, prepared to let violent crime against the disabled spiral upwards?

Learning disability health services still failing

Progress on improving health and social care for learning disabled people has been slow despite last year's damning report into the deaths of six learning disabled people in hospital, the Department of Health says. The DH's Six Lives - Progress Report says improvements were "overly reliant on individual staff members or local groups" and had not been mainstreamed.

Caught in a trap: disabled people can't move out of care

Disabled people in care who want to live more independently are being prevented from doing so by funding wrangles between local authorities.

'Mate crime' fears for people with learning disabilities

Learning disabled people living in the community are increasingly finding themselves the victims of so-called mate crime.

Fears of learning disability 'institutionalisation' unfounded

Fears that learning disabled people leaving NHS residential accommodation are being "institutionalised by the back door" in private hospitals are unfounded, a Community Care investigation has revealed.

Mortgage aid cut 'will see disabled people lose homes'

Almost 65,000 disabled people, including those with profound mental health problems, are at risk of losing their homes because of a cut in mortgage payment support for vulnerable people, according to the body representing housing associations.

Poll reveals widespread discrimination against people with learning disabilities

Discrimination against people with learning disabilities and misconceptions about their lives is still widespread in the UK, despite a string of high profile hate crime cases, a poll by Turning Point has revealed.

Elderly carers: how will the state cope when they are gone?

More than 150,000 learning disabled adults are living with carers aged 70-plus.

Doctors say patients with a learning disability receive poorer care

Almost half of doctors (46%) and a third of nurses (37%) say that people with a learning disability receive a poorer standard of healthcare than the rest of the population.

Parents with learning disabilities feel harshly judged by social workers

Parents with learning disabilities feel the most harshly judged by social workers according to a report from the children's commissioner published today.

Equality commission launches disability harassment probe

Councils' record in tackling the harassment of disabled people will come under scrutiny in a major inquiry launched by the Equality and Human Rights Commission today.

Learning disabled people 'institutionalised by back door'

The NHS and councils are "institutionalising people with learning disabilities by the back door", according to the head of a provider umbrella body.