People with a learning disability are entitled to access all specialist services as needed. But Bruce Wallace argues that many people with a learning disability and a concurrent mental health problem are not diagnosed and with no appropriate care

It is only relatively recently that mental health and mental illness have entered the conscious thought of learning disability practitioners in the context of service provision and staff development. Recognising that people with a learning disability may be exhibiting signs associated with a mental health problem or mental illness rather than related to their learning disability has clear implications for their carers, both personal and professional. An inspection of a range of literature on this area reveals a clear lack of information on the incidence of mental illness in people with a learning disability judged by the wide parameters of ‘guesstimates’, including: