People with learning disabilities have more physical and mental health problems than people without learning disabilities.1 A national Confidential Inquiry reported that men and women with learning disabilities died, on average, 13 and 20 years earlier than men and women in the general population.2 In addition, the Inquiry's findings showed that people with learning disabilities have worse healthcare experience and outcomes compared with people without learning disabilities. These health inequalities are not inevitable and are, to a large extent, avoidable.

Contributing to such health inequalities are barriers that people with learning disabilities face when …