Valuing People White Paper 2001
“Learning disability includes the presence of:
• a significantly reduced ability to understand new or complex information, to learn new skills (impaired intelligence), with;
• a reduced ability to cope independently (impaired social functioning);
• which started before adulthood, with a lasting effect on development.
The definition covers adults with autism who also have learning disabilities, but not those with a higher level autistic spectrum disorder who may be of average or even above average intelligence-such as some people with Asperger’s syndrome.
‘Learning disability’ does not include all those who have a ‘learning difficulty’ which is more broadly defined in education legislation.”