Impact of learning disabilities on life quality
Check out this answer from Consensus:
Learning disabilities have a profound and multifaceted impact on life quality, affecting emotional well-being, social relationships, and daily functioning. The QoL of individuals with LD is often intertwined with the QoL of their parents, highlighting the need for comprehensive support systems. Effective interventions and support programs that address both academic and emotional needs are essential for improving the life quality of individuals with LD.
Learning disabilities (LD) can significantly affect various aspects of life quality, including emotional well-being, social relationships, and daily functioning. This synthesis examines the evidence from multiple research papers to understand the extent and nature of these impacts.
Key Insights
- Emotional and Social Well-being:
- Children and adults with LD often report lower quality of life (QoL) in emotional and social domains compared to their typically developing peers. This includes poorer emotional well-being, lower self-esteem, and dissatisfaction in relationships with family and friends1 3 4 5 7.
- Higher levels of stress, anxiety, and lower self-esteem are common among students with LD, particularly in online learning environments where additional time and effort are required to manage learning challenges2.
- Parental Influence:
- Academic and Daily Functioning:
- Learning disabilities can lead to significant deficits in academic self-concept and overall academic achievement, which in turn affects self-confidence and QoL. This is particularly evident in children with epilepsy and LD, who show lower scores in academic self-concept and various QoL domains7.
- Children with specific learning disabilities (SpLD) report significant limitations in family activities, social interactions, and general behavior, which contribute to a compromised health-related quality of life (HRQL)5.
- Quality of Life Measurement and Interventions:
- The use of QoL as a framework for evaluating and improving services for individuals with LD is advocated. However, there are concerns that such approaches might perpetuate professional agendas rather than empower individuals with LD6.
- Specialized interventions, including educational support and counseling, are crucial for improving the QoL of children with LD. These interventions should address both academic and emotional/personal concerns2 7.
Does a learning disability strongly impact life quality?
Laura Ward has answered Likely
An expert from University of Glasgow in Psychology, Public Health
The social provision for those with learning disabilities varies widely across the world, and with it, the health and quality of life of those with learning disabilities (or intellectual disabilities as it is known internationally). A persons quality of life is a multidimensional concept but often includes health at the core. Whilst learning disabilities is an umbrella term including many different developmental conditions and genetic disorders, this heterogenous group do share various health experiences/risks. People with learning disabilities often experience a burden of long-term health needs including high rates of epilepsy, mental ill-health, gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes, obesity, physical disability and polypharmacy (taking 5+ medications). People with learning disabilities die younger than people without learning disabilities, on average, up to 20 years earlier, often from reasons considered avoidable. There is undoubtedly significant inequalities and injustices faced by those with learning disabilities, but these can be changed, improved and prevented. More equitable and person-centred healthcare can reduce the inequalities faced by people with learning disabilities, enabling each individual to have good health and wellbeing. As with every person there are gradients and many factors that influence our wellbeing; people with learning disabilities are no different, like other minorities/marginal groups it is societies and systematic influences that shape inequalities and inequities.
Does a learning disability strongly impact life quality?
Yousef Khalifa Aleghfeli has answered Unlikely
An expert from Oxford University in Education
Absolutely not. There is no universal definition for quality of life. When faced with such a question, it is imperative to ask, quality of life according to whom? As individuals with agency, persons who are differently abled can still have a positive quality of life defined in their own terms, which are sometimes unrecognizable by ableist expectations of a positive quality of life, and this ableist framing often dominates the discourse around the quality of life of differently abled persons. In order to have a more accurate evaluation of an individual’s quality of life, it is important to have that evaluation be grounded contextually and conscientious of systemic realities.