South Gloucestershire Council

The All Age Learning Disability Strategy sets out our vision and priorities for people of any age with a learning disability in South Gloucestershire for the period from April 2022 to March 2027.

This is the first all-age learning disability strategy for South Gloucestershire. It has been developed with the Learning Difficulties Partnership Board, and includes input from key people including parents and carers, providers, practitioners, commissioners, schools, and adults and young people with learning disability.

What a learning disability is

In South Gloucestershire we have adopted the Eric Emerson and Pauline Heslop “A working definition of learning disabilities”. Learning disability includes the presence of:

• a reduced ability to cope independently (impaired social functioning)
• a significantly reduced ability to understand new or complex information, to learn new skills (impaired intelligence) ҄
• which started before adulthood, with a lasting effect on development

Examples of this would be difficulty with everyday activities – for example household tasks, socialising or managing money – which affects someone for their whole life. People with a learning disability tend to take longer to learn and may need support to develop new skills, understand complicated information and interact with other people. Many people with learning disability prefer to use the term ‘learning difficulty’.

About the strategy

Our vision

People with a learning disability in South Gloucestershire will be empowered to have more choice and control and will live safe, good, healthy and fulfilled lives as part of their community. They will have the right support at the right time to achieve their full potential.

What this means

By putting this strategy into action we aim to achieve

1. Effective planning for smooth transitions for young people preparing for adulthood
2. Increase employment and vocational education and training opportunities for people with a learning disability
3. Provide a range of good quality housing and support options for people with a learning disability with a clear pathway on how to access them
4. Promote independence – ensuring people are safe and connected to their community
5. Promote support networks for family, friends and parents and carers who support people with a learning disability
6. Work in partnership with health to deliver better health and wellbeing outcomes for people with a learning disability and their parents and carers

These are the six priorities that form the framework of the strategy that will enable us to deliver on our vision.

There is an accompanying action plan which set out how we will deliver the strategy over the next 5 years and an easy read version of the strategy can be down downloaded here.

Thank you to everyone who has been involved in creating this strategy.

Get involved

If you would like to be involved in the work we are doing to change lives of people with learning disabilities and put this strategy into action, come and meet our friendly Learning Difficulties Partnership Board. We particularly welcome people with learning disabilities and their carers.

For further information email CSODesk@southglos.gov.uk or visit our Learning Difficulties Partnership Board page.