Why learning difficulty and not learning disability?

At People First (Self Advocacy) we believe that people labelled as having a learning difficulty are disabled by society. We choose to use the term ‘learning difficulty’ instead of ‘learning disability’ to get across the idea that our learning support needs change over time.

With good support we can become more independent and do more for ourselves. Support needs are also different in different environments, which means they are different in different places and with different people, for example in a place where a person feels more confident their support needs can be lower but if they are nervous in a new place their support needs may be higher.

This is different from a physical disability where a person may always need the same amount of support. It is negative to try to ‘cure’ people instead of giving them physical assistance to carry on their lives the same as anyone else. It is positive to give people with learning difficulties good support to become more independent.

What is Self Advocacy? >>

Why learning difficulty and not learning disability? >>