The WEC's latest report considers the inequalities facing people with learning disabilities, and autistic people, particularly with respect to access to healthcare and employment opportunities.
There are approximately 1.3 million people in England with a learning disability, and 29% of those people are diagnosed as autistic. The report emphasises that people with learning disabilities and autistic people face the widest employment gap of all people with disabilities. Nearly 69% disabled workers earn less than £15 per hour.
The report makes several recommendations, including the following:
In light of the general election having now been called, the government's response to this latest report from the WEC remains to be seen. However, the report makes useful reading in the meantime, as it gives employers some ideas of the lived experiences of people with learning disabilities and autism.