Chris Jones tells the story of Mates’nDates, an Oxfordshire dating and friendship agency for people with learning disabilities that puts one lonely person in touch with another. Establishing the agency raised challenges to attitudes and practice

We live in a society where markers of success are constantly paraded in every medium. To be a valued adult it seems you need to be good-looking, clever, employed, have a disposable income and be in an active sexual partnership. It is not surprising that people with learning disabilities often compare themselves badly against these indicators (for example, Edgerton 1993) and referrals to clinical psychology very often have their origins in low self-esteem and a feeling of difference.