Last week, the UK Government announced that child care and
nursery groups will soon be required to assess children from
birth to age 5 years against a set of 69 early learning goals.
This national curriculum for under-5s suggests that the
Government is very concerned, perhaps overly so, about the
learning abilities of children in the UK. But sadly, when it
comes to the care of people with learning disabilities the
situation is very different. According to a report by the
charity Mencap, released on March 12, people with a learning
disability face institutional discrimination at every level of
the UK's health service. Death by indifference presents the
stories of six people who Mencap believes have died
unnecessarily because of widespread ignorance and indifference
towards people with a learning disability, their families, and
carers in the NHS. Mencap's concerns are supported by two
reports published last year. In July, 2006, an investigation by
the Healthcare Commission found widespread institutional abuse,