In the current issue

Saba Salman: Event calls out early death for what it is

Opinion

Community Living highlights a movement to force action on early deaths

In brief

In brief

Our round-up of news from the world of learning disability

Trying out a job becomes simpler

Welfare rights

Taking up or trying out paid or voluntary work no longer means people have to be reassessed and risk losing disability benefits. Charlie Callanan explains who will gain from this

Education during military moves

Law

An armed forces child was left without specialist education support for five months after moving to a new local authority area. Service families move frequently but should not experience gaps in education, the ombudsman has said. Maria Shahid reports

Social murder: the term says it all

Features

Disabled people continue to die prematurely while society fails to act. A week-long event called out this social murder and looked at what could be done. George Julian was there

Chris Hatton: people are still being failed. Are researchers complicit?

Opinion

The latest LeDeR report concludes, like previous issues, that people are still dying too early. Alongside politicians and professionals, researchers need to question their own role in this

The vanishing patients

Features

Learning disability healthcare is disappearing from NHS plans, says Scott Watkin. So more than 1,000 people have signed a letter calling on the prime minister to put this right as a priority

More rights for tenants

Features

Housing legislation – including the much-vaunted Renters’ Rights Act – will affect those providing, monitoring and living in supported housing. Closer scrutiny is ahead, says Suzanne Gale

Questions of social care

Features

Prime minister Andy Burnham has described parliament’s inaction over social care as ‘a major dereliction of public duty’. Saba Salman looks at what may be ahead – and what should be addressed

Mary O’Hara: social segregation gets government backing

Opinion

Instead of preserving rights to inclusion, the US government is subverting them – particularly for people with severe disabilities – regardless of what the law says

Shalim Ali: music and arts give us all a chance to express ourselves

Opinion

Sharing music through being a DJ brings people together, allows me to enjoy myself and recharge, and gives me a break from the serious demands of work

Research with the reality experts

Research

To ensure research is informed by reality and will lead to change, academics need to work as equals with those affected by the issue studied. Saba Salman talks to Dr Joanna Griffin about co-production

Listen up to hear the voiceless

Books

Through immersive observation, Beverley Samways reveals the emotional depth, intelligence and the profound human need for connection within the inner worlds of non-speaking young people with learning disabilities in a specialist residential school

The epitome of state care failure

Books

Children being isolated in bleak hospital rooms subject to restraint and the systems that allow this come in for severe criticism from former health minister Norman Lamb, who describes his horror at the conditions he saw and the inhumanity towards parents

Crime on a distant isle

Arts

The relationships between a severely disabled, non-verbal teenager with his carers and mother are sharply drawn in this crime series set on a remote island. Simon Jarrett catches up

Expressed by the body

Arts

People who may struggle with words can convey many emotions and ideas thorough dance. Professionals and academics should endorse this, not be dismissive about cognition, says Simon Jarrett

Evolutionary inferior

History

A superficial observation in the 19th century led to a racist term being coined for Down syndrome. Susanna Shapland explains how discredited theories had a persistent consequence

More stories »

Meader's view

See all cartoons

Featured

"It comes back to moral leadership. You’ve got to have someone who is challenging the system"

Laughing Boy: story on the stage

History of Community Living

Sponsors