Adults over 50 years old who have ASD, learning difficulties and challenging behaviour - Find a freedom of information request

1. Please could you tell me how many adults over 50 years old the council is currently aware of who have ASD, learning difficulties and challenging behaviour? If you could break it down into 5-year age brackets, that would be enormously helpful, but not vital.

I am not looking for any personal information on this group, just the number of people known to the council who fall into the category.

Learning difficulties are defined as problems with learning significant enough to prevent someone living alone without a support structure (family or a social care placement) and the accepted definition of challenging behaviour is: 'behaviour of such an intensity, frequency or duration that the physical safety of the person or others is likely to be placed in serious jeopardy, or behaviour which is likely to seriously limit or deny access to and use of ordinary community facilities' (Emerson et al, 1987)

I can confirm that the information requested is held by Lincolnshire County Council. I have detailed below the information that is being released to you.

Adults aged 50 and over, who are currently in receipt of Long-Term Support services from Lincolnshire County Council Adult Social Care, of which:

Table 1 - have a Service User Group (Primary Support Reason) of Learning Disability / Autism / Aspergers

Table 2 - do not have a Service User Group (Primary Support Reason) of Learning Disability / Autism / Aspergers, but separately have a reported health condition of Learning Disability, Autism or Aspergers

Table 1: Long Term Support Service Users aged 50+ with a Service User Group of Learning Disability / Autism / Aspergers

Learning Disability Support / Autism / Aspergers – 707

Table 2: Long Term Support Service Users aged 50+ with a Service User Group other than Learning Disability / Autism / Aspergers * Who have a reported health condition of Learning Disability, Autism or Asperger Syndrome

Learning Disability / Autism / Asperger - 24 

*Service Users with a Service User Group of Physical Support, Mental Health Support, Sensory Support where a recorded condition of Learning Disability or Autism is not their primary reason for receiving services.

We have chosen not to breakdown by 5-year age brackets or Health Conditions, as some smaller numbers would be suppressed. We do not hold reportable data on challenging behaviours.