ABSTRACT

The introduction of the UK term ‘learning disability’ (ID) as a replacement for the term ‘mental handicap’ can be traced to the then Conservative Secretary of State for Health from 1995–1997, Stephen Dorrell. Some of the terms used interchangeably to denote ID include the learning disability/difficulty, learning impairment, cognitive impairment, mental handicap, mental retardation and global developmental delay. In a paper discussing classification in the UK and abroad, A. Leyin describes the binary system in use in the UK. This simply categorises intellectual impairment as either learning disability or severe learning disability and uses the IQ figure of 50–55 as the indicator of severe learning disability. Australia uses both terms ‘learning disability’ and ‘learning difficulty’ to refer to specific educational learning difficulties and ‘intellectual disability’ to refer to UK learning disability. Davidson warns against adopting a purely socio/adaptive measure, since this form of assessment is less reliable, poorly defined and standardised on biased norms.