What is a Learning Disability?

What is a Learning Disability?

A learning disability is when someone has a harder time understanding and learning new things. It can also make everyday tasks, like managing money, making friends, or doing household tasks more difficult. This is something people are born with, and it affects them for their whole life.

Although it is a condition that will never go away, people with a learning disability can still learn and develop, and can have a good life when they get the right kinds of support from other people.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), people with learning disabilities are defined as meeting all three of the following criteria:

• An intelligence quotient (IQ) less than 70;
• Impairment of daily living skills or diminished ability;
• Identification of such lifelong problems before the age of 18.

Learning disabilities are often grouped into four levels:

• Mild: IQ of 50 - 69
• Moderate: IQ of 35 - 49
• Severe: IQ of 20 - 34
• Profound: IQ below 20

The Scottish Government describes a learning disability as "a lifelong condition that started before adulthood, affects how someone learns and develops, and means they need support to understand, learn, and live independently."

How does it affect people?

Each person with a learning disability is different. The support they require depends on how much their disability affects them. For example:

• Someone with a mild learning disability might just need help with things such as finding a job or their managing finances.
• Someone with a severe or profound learning disability might need full time care for everyday tasks and could also have physical disabilities.
• People with certain specific conditions can have a learning disability too. For example, most people with Down syndrome and some people with autism have a learning disability.

What is NOT a Learning Disability?

Learning disabilities are often confused with learning difficulties, such as:

• Dyslexia - difficulty with reading and writing
• Dyscalculia - difficulty with maths and numbers
• Dysgraphia - difficulty with handwriting

Learning disabilities are also often confused with neurodevelopment and neurological conditions like ADHD. It is important to know that a learning difficulty does not affect a person's intellect, whereas a learning difficulty does.

A person with a learning difficulty may need extra support in school. However, as they grow older, they might develop enough skills to live independently, get a job and build relationships. Even if their IQ is below 70, they might not need as much support in their daily life as someone with a learning disability.

"Learning Disability" or "Intellectual Disability"

You might hear both terms being used. Around the world, more people now say, "intellectual disability" as opposed to "learning disability", however both terms mean the same thing. We are in the process of changing our language to the new term "intellectual disability".