Supporting the Physical Health Needs of People with Learning Disabilities

Health promotion has been defined as the ‘process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve their health. It moves beyond a focus on individual behaviour towards a wide range of social and environmental interventions’ (WHO, 1998). The key principle of health promotion is empowerment; it is fundamentally concerned with ensuring that individuals and communities can make full use of their capabilities and potential. This concept of health as a foundation for achieving human potential, enabling and empowering people to become all that they are capable of becoming has important implications for all those concerned with the care and wellbeing of people with learning disabilities. Yet there is considerable evidence that people with intellectual disabilities are not receiving the same level of health promotion opportunities as other members of society despite the wide-spread recognition that this group of citizens is at particular risk of ill-health. A clear opportunity exists for health promotion efforts to improve the health prospects and quality of life for people with learning disabilities.