Consent and learning disability Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Consent and learning disability - Essay Example People with learning disabilities may have difficulty with the second key component. Yet as part of their autonomy requirements consent cannot be denied to them and it is essential that there is an understanding of the manner in which their autonomy can be enhanced and not compromised. With more and more people with learning disabilities in the United Kingdom seeking generic health care services, as a result of the policies of the health care authorities, consent with regard to people with learning difficulties becomes a significant issue for professionals involved with providing health care services to people with learning difficulties (Brittle, 2004). In the United Kingdom nearly one-and-half million people are estimated to be affected by learning disabilities. Two factors need to be considered when addressing people with learning difficulties. The first is that learning difficulty remains with these individuals throughout the course of their life and the second is that these individuals have their own likes and dislikes, history and opinions and possess the same rights like any other citizen of the United Kingdom. The Royal College of Nursing Learning Disability Nursing Forum, 2006, relates learning difficulties to those individuals, who demonstrate the characteristics of â€Å"a significant impairment of intelligence, a significant impairment of adaptive function and age of onset before adulthood† (The Royal College of Nursing Learning Disability Nursing Forum, 2006). There are no laboratory tests or imaging tests that form the basis of identifying individuals with learning tests. The measure of intelligence based on cognitive assessment, whereby the intelligence quotient (IQ) score is ascertained, is the means to identifying people with learning difficulties. Such IQ tests evaluate the abilities of an individual in areas such as comprehension, expression, knowledge, abstract thinking, memory and problem-solving skills. These tests are normally