Why Are We Accepting State-Sanctioned Social Murder?

Sara Ryan’s new book argues that people with learning disabilities experience fatal violence at the hands of the state. Why? Because we do not see them as ‘human’

In 2023, I was commissioned to write a book about health inequalities and people with learning disabilities. A straightforward task, I thought.

We know that people with learning disabilities in the UK continue to experience impoverished lives: only 4% of these estimated 1.5 million adults are in employment, they are often prevented from having relationships, and children and adults die on average 20 to 30 years before their non-disabled peers.

But the book changed shape as I developed a comprehensive argument that people with learning disabilities experience state-sanctioned social murder.