Learning Disabilities
What is it?
According to the government White Paper for England, Valuing People: a new strategy for learning disability for the 21st century, a learning disability includes the presence of:
a significantly reduced ability to understand new or complex information or to learn new skills;
a reduced ability to cope independently;
an impairment that started before adulthood, with a lasting effect on development.
Each of these three criteria must be met before someone can be said to have a learning disability
Is Learning Difficulties The Same?
The document Supporting people with a learning disability and/or autism who display behaviour that challenges including those with a mental health condition states:
Learning disability is different from a specific learning difficulty, such as dyslexia, or a mental health condition
The document An introduction to supporting people with a learning disability by BILD also highlights that the terms learning disability and learning difficulties are commonly used in the UK, with these terms often being interchangeable. Some people, however, prefer the term learning difficulties.
In UK education services, the term ‘learning difficulty’ also includes people who have ‘specific learning difficulties’ (e.g., dyslexia), but who do not have a significant general impairment in intelligence.
Going by accepted definitions, having a learning disability is different from having learning difficulties. An individual with learning disabilities will have a reduced ability to understand or learn complex skills, and a reduced ability to cope independently, with these impairments starting before adulthood. On the other hand, an individual with learning difficulties will have a specific learning difficulty but will not have a general impairment in intelligence.