Learning Disability and Autism Awareness: Reasonable Adjustments

This learning disability and autism awareness course helps health and care staff provide accessible, person-centred care to people with a learning disability and autistic people. It is written for doctors, nurses, midwives, allied health professionals, pharmacy and dental teams, social workers, reception staff, health care assistants and care staff across the UK.

People with a learning disability die, on average, many years younger than the general population, and a high proportion of their deaths are considered avoidable. The course explains why: delays in diagnosis, diagnostic overshadowing, poor communication, missing reasonable adjustments, inaccessible information, poor use of mental capacity law and inappropriate "do not attempt CPR" decisions. It covers what a learning disability and autism are and the language people prefer, the legal duty to make reasonable adjustments in each nation, accessible information, practical adjustments from booking to discharge, recognising pain and deterioration, capacity and decision-making, resuscitation decisions, restrictive practices, safeguarding and learning from deaths.

Please note: this course is not the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism, and it does not meet the statutory training requirement for CQC-registered providers in England or the standards in the Oliver McGowan Code of Practice. It supports awareness and reflection on reasonable adjustments. It is designed to take approximately 2 hours and is self-paced on our course portal; see the course catalogue for related titles. Healthcare Practise UK is an independent provider. We are not affiliated with any UK regulator or the NHS, and no regulator has reviewed this course.

The duty to make reasonable adjustments is anticipatory: services must plan ahead for disabled people generally, not wait for someone to ask. The course sets out how that duty and related policy work in each nation:

The course also covers mental capacity law in each nation, the Mental Health Act 2025 and its staged changes to detention for people with a learning disability and autistic people, the Health and Care Act 2022 training requirement in England, LeDeR findings, NICE guidance and STOMP and STAMP. Regulators' standards, including GMC Good medical practice and Decision making and consent, the NMC Code and the HCPC, GDC, GPhC, GOC, GOsC, GCC and Social Work England standards, all require fair, non-discriminatory care and support for people to take part in decisions.

• Module 1, Understanding learning disability and autism: what each is, how a learning disability differs from a learning difficulty, language and attitudes, and health inequalities, including the story of Oliver McGowan.
• Module 2, The law and policy framework: reasonable adjustments, the Accessible Information Standard and the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag, autism and learning disability policy across the UK, and training requirements in England.
• Module 3, Communication and accessible information: communicating with people with a learning disability and with autistic people, hospital passports, Easy Read and working with family carers, support workers and advocates.
• Module 4, Reasonable adjustments in practice: before and during appointments, hospital admissions, annual health checks, screening and medication, and diagnostic overshadowing, pain and deterioration, including tools such as DisDAT.
• Module 5, Capacity, consent and decision-making: supported decision-making, capacity and best interests, resuscitation decisions and restrictive practices and behaviour that challenges.
• Module 6, Safeguarding, learning and team practice: safeguarding and closed cultures, learning from lives and deaths, mental health crisis and building adjustments into everyday systems.

The cases are practical: an autistic woman who had avoided cervical screening for years and attends after a longer, quieter appointment with photographs sent in advance; a man who does not use speech and starts hitting his head, wrongly put down to "his behaviour"; and a GP practice that finds a third of its learning disability register has not had an annual health check.

Reflection points and "apply it" tasks ask you to find out how your service records reasonable adjustments and, in England, whether you can view and update the Reasonable Adjustment Digital Flag. Your reflective account answers three prompts: what you learned about the health inequalities people face, which adjustments you will make routinely and how you will record them, and your action plan for the next three months.

The 15 scenario-based questions include a DNACPR form that gives "learning disability" as the reason and a patient who says "yes" when asked "Do you understand?". The pass mark is 12 (80%); if you score below that, you revisit the linked sections and try again. Passing supports your learning record but does not by itself meet any mandatory training requirement. You receive a certificate of completion from Healthcare Practise UK.

For CPD, record the time you actually spend. Nurses, midwives and nursing associates should note that self-directed online learning normally counts towards the NMC's individual CPD hours rather than its 20 participatory hours, unless you complete it with colleagues and discuss it together. Doctors reflect on CPD at appraisal; the GMC does not set fixed hours. The HCPC, GDC, GPhC, GOC, GOsC, GCC and Social Work England each set their own CPD rules, so check the ones that apply to you, and keep your certificate and reflection together.

Clinicians use the course as reflective CPD focused on what to do differently on Monday: offer the first appointment of the day, check understanding by asking the person to explain back, read the hospital passport, and treat a change in behaviour as a possible physical problem until proven otherwise. Reception staff use it to make booking and waiting adjustments that cost little and matter a great deal.

Teams use it alongside, not instead of, their required training. A practice or ward can complete it together and then review how adjustments are recorded and shared. See courses for organisations for team accounts. Providers in England that need to meet the Health and Care Act 2022 requirement should use the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training; this course can sit beside it as further reflection.

This course is part of our safeguarding courses group, because people with a learning disability and autistic people face higher risks of abuse, including in services with closed cultures. Safeguarding Adults covers recognising and reporting that abuse, and Safeguarding Children and Young People covers disabled children. For capacity and best interests in depth, see Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards; for the wider picture, Health Inequalities and Caring for Vulnerable Groups. The which course do I need tool can suggest a set.