The government is facing an embarrassing slump in one of the key measures of the success of its disability strategy: the proportion of disabled people who feel they have choice and control in their lives.
Those with borderline personality disorder, or BPD, a mental illness marked by unstable moods, often experience trouble maintaining interpersonal relationships. New research from the University of Georgia indicates that this may have to do with lowered brain activity in regions important for empathy in individuals with borderline personality traits.
My daughter was zooming through the toy aisles at Wal-Mart with her walker; I was chasing her and asking her to stop or else there would be no Lala Loopsie. Actually, she had more of a run-run-glide thing going on. One of the workers was standing on a ladder arranging shelves and noticed; I was sure he was going to ask her to stop running, but instead, he looked down at me and said, "I am so so sorry she's like that." And his face was contorted with great pity and sadness. He thought my daughter's disability was a great tragedy.
If you are among the approximately 1.4m children and adults in the UK born with a learning disability, it's likely that through no fault of your own you will experience a number of injustices in your life. From feeling largely invisible and isolated to being excluded from many of the activities that make life worth living - friendship, love, employment, leisure and further education - the chance of you living the kind of life you want to is vastly reduced if you have a learning disability.
New analysis for the first time looks at research into public attitudes towards people with a learning disability
Iain Duncan Smith's policies have not always been well-received by those with disabilities.
