Hidden learning disability

Although it has been suggested that about 2.5% of the population as a whole should be regarded as having a mild-to-moderate learning disability, only about 0.25% of the population is registered as having a learning disability. This paper considers why this disparity exists. It is suggested that although 2.5% of the population may be a good estimate for people with IQs less than 70, a better estimate of the proportion of the population who reach a dual criteria of having both a low IQ and social/skill defects is about 1%. It is pointed out that even if true prevalence rate of learning disability is nearer to 1% rather than 2.5%, services still only know of a small proportion of people who could be considered to have a learning disability, and there are probably a large number of people with unidentified learning disabilities. It is also noted that the term ‘learning disability’ can be very confusing as it is not clear if it refers to people who have IQs below 70, people with both intellectual and adaptive disabilities or people who have been given a learning disability label. The implications of this for services and research are discussed