What is a learning disability?

The Department of Health (DoH) defines a learning disability as including the presence of:

A significantly reduced ability to understand new or complex information, to learn new skills (impaired intellectual functioning) with a reduced ability to cope independently (impairment of adaptive/social functioning) which started before adulthood, with a lasting effect on development.

Valuing People, Department of Health (2009)

 

In other words, a learning disability is when someone is much less able to :

	understand new or difficult information
	learn new skills
	cope with things by themselves

Who are we?

Who we are and where our services are provided

	NELFT's learning disability teams provide health and social care services in partnership with the Local Authority (LA) for adults with learning disabilities across:
	- Barking and Dagenham  - Havering - Waltham Forest - Redbridge - Inpatient Moore Ward
	The learning disability teams in Essex are managed by South Essex Partnership Trust (SEPT).

 

Who is in the team?

We are a team of:

	admin staff
	nurses
	social workers
	behavioural therapists family therapists
	psychologists psychiatrists
	speech and language therapists occupational therapists
	art therapists physiotherapists