Autistic people surviving on highly restricted diets may become vulnerable to scurvy and eye disorders. New work led by dietician Summer Yule found severe nutritional deficiencies in narrow diets can leave people with a range of health problems. Yule’s work...

Learning disabled people are dying at a “shocking” rate from coronavirus. That’s the view of Dan Scorer, Mencap’s policy head. Scorer made the comments after a report showed that the virus killed almost 80 per cent of a sample of people...

The mother of a young boy with autism says his primary school forced him to stay in a small room alone with her and a teaching assistant for nearly two months. Stacey Jackson, 30, from West Lothian, Scotland, says son...

A Sheffield boy with special educational needs has missed out on much of his senior schooling because the city council did not provide suitable alternative education for him. That’s the official finding of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman....

Supermarkets must do more to ensure people with learning disabilities and autism get food during the new lockdown. That’s the view of Tim Nicholls, who is policy head at the National Autistic Society (NAS). Nicholls says lockdown has a “disproportionate...

An education authority is breaking the law with statements of special educational needs (SEN) that fail to give firm commitments to children’s services. That’s the view of Belfast children’s rights lawyer Nicholas Quinn. Quinn accuses the Northern Ireland Education Authority...

A carer is hoping to take her fight for extra support to the Court of Appeal. The single mum, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, has four special needs children aged between nine and 19. The mother, from Greater Manchester,...

Many children with difficult-to-treat epilepsy will still be denied medical cannabis, despite the drug being offered on the NHS to a teenager battling seizures. That’s the view of cannabis campaigner Hannah Deacon. She said she will continue working to “enable...

The death of an autistic teen after suffering an allergic reaction to antipsychotic medication was “potentially avoidable”. That’s the view of the specialist Learning Disability Mortality Review (LeDeR) into the death of 18-year-old Oliver McGowan. The teen’s brain swelled so...

Graduates with autism who have problems finding employment are to receive support from one of the UK’s banking giants. Working in partnership with UK charity Ambitious about Autism, Santander is ploughing £1 million into a ground-breaking higher education employment programme....