Do you see me?

Where is everyone?

Around 1.5 million people in the UK have a learning disability, just over 2% of the population. So why don’t we encounter people with learning disabilities more often in everyday life?

I do see people through my work, or in specific settings in my community, a young man with Down syndrome serving at a catering college restaurant, a neighbour’s daughter visiting her mum. But outside those moments, they are strikingly absent from my day-to-day life.

I want to believe that’s because people are fully included and just part of everyday life. After all, people with learning disabilities are just people.

But I’m not sure that’s the whole story.

I often think about a moment in a nearby seaside town. A young woman walked towards me, made eye contact and reached out her hand. I smiled and stepped forward, but before we could connect, she was gently guided away.

Then I noticed others. Each person was arm in arm with someone supporting them. Each seemed to be moving through the town, but not really part of it.

They were visible. But were they included?

That moment has stayed with me because it raises an important question:

What does it mean to belong?

Belonging is more than being present. It’s being known. Being greeted by name. Bumping into familiar faces. Having friends, colleagues and connections beyond family or paid support.

It’s being part of the fabric of a community.

Which brings me back to the question: where is everyone?

If people with learning disabilities truly belong, shouldn’t we encounter them everywhere, in cafés and pubs, in workplaces, in parks, at football matches?

Perhaps we do, and I just don’t notice.

I hope that’s true.

But if people with learning disabilities are still missing from many of the places where community happens, then we need to ask why.

Because the opposite of belonging isn’t simply exclusion from places.

It’s being present but disconnected.
Visible but unknown.
Seen but not recognised.

So when we ask Do You See Me?, perhaps the real question is:

Do you see me as someone who belongs?

Because when people truly belong, their presence feels ordinary.

And maybe the real test of an inclusive society isn’t whether people with learning disabilities can be seen, but whether their absence would feel strange.

And more than that, whether their voices are heard, valued and shaping the world around them. Because belonging isn’t just about being present.  It’s about having a say, being taken seriously, and influencing the decisions that affect your life.

Only then can we say not just that we see people, but that we are building communities where everyone truly matters.