People with learning disabilities - an ageing population

Just like everyone else, people with learning disabilities (PWLD) are living longer. This means that there are new considerations to be made by professionals and services working to support them. However, it is also important to remember that PWLD are a broad group of people with differing abilities and needs, and there are many different issues that need to be considered. These considerations are a challenge, which as a society we are only just beginning to recognise and respond to, despite having known that this situation was approaching for more than a decade. In this article I will probably raise more questions than I will answer, but recognising the issues is the first step towards developing a response.