Latest News for Parents & Carers

Derby City Council’s new Skills Centre at Friar Gate Studios has been launched. The vibrant new facility is designed to empower young people and families living with special educational needs and disability (SEND) to live their best life, through skills, training, improved confidence and independence, and social community.

The health secretary has vowed to “put a stop” to the practice of NHS doctors giving people with learning disabilities automatic do-not-resuscitate orders, following an ITV News investigation. Wes Streeting said it was “repugnant and immoral” that learning disabled people were being treated “as being of less worth” by the health service.

Schools in England are steering away children with special needs, leading some to have six times as many pupils requiring learning or behaviour support compared with others, according to research.

The mother of a four-year-old boy has said her “heart is broken” after he was diagnosed with a form of childhood dementia. Tammy McDaid, from Swansea, said her son Tate has Sanfilippo Syndrome and is not expected to survive to adulthood.

People with a learning disability are often ignored, dismissed, undervalued and underestimated. But what is day-to-day life like for people with a learning disability today, and what should the government be doing to improve their lives?