Working with elderly carers of people with learning disabilities and planning for the future

Abstract

The majority of people with learning disabilities in the UK live at home with their families, usually with their parents (Mental Health Foundation, 1996) or – more commonly in later life – with one parent, usually their mother. Nowadays, people with learning disabilities live much longer than they did in the past, with the result that there is also an expanding population of elderly parents who are continuing to care for a son or daughter well into old age.