General Article Life with a disability

Topic Selected: Disabilities
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The Equality Act 2010 defines a disabled person as anyone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out day-to-day activities. These impairments include:

  • loss of limbs
  • multiple sclerosis
  • heart disease
  • Down’s syndrome
  • learning difficulties
  • mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety.

Older people are more likely to develop a disability and most disabled people are adults. More than ten million people in the UK are disabled, 770,000 of whom are children.

More people are living with a disability now than in the past because we’re living longer, and improved medical treatments are enabling more people to manage long-term health problems. The Equality and Human Rights Commission says that 58% of people over 50 will have a long-term health condition by 2020.

Independence with the right support

Disabilities of any kind present challenges, but this doesn’t mean that life with a disabili...

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