We thank Sonia Sodha for her admirable article on adults with learning disabilities (“The worst of Covid is over for most of us, but it still lingers for those with learning disabilities”, Comment). We agree wholeheartedly with her conclusion about their treatment as second-class citizens. She refers to the excessive Covid mortality rate, but premature deaths have occurred for years. The recently published 2021 learning disabilities mortality report finds 49% of deaths were rated as “avoidable” for people with a learning disability. This compares with 22% for the general population.
Our beloved daughter Juliet, born with Cornelia de Lange syndrome, died suddenly in 2020, aged 25, and she is one of those statistics. She died because of misdiagnoses and systemic failings in our local A&E department. A coroner’s inquest concluded that neglect contributed to her death and he issued a prevention of future deaths notice. Our MP, Sam Tarry, wrote an excellent letter to the Department for Health and Social Care asking it to address this and other serious concerns. The eventual reply ignored the mortality rate, concentrating on the England rare diseases action plan. This has just one reference to learning disabilities.
