Editorial: What a year!

Abstract

For many people with learning disabilities, as for all of us, this has been an unsettling year. When we all wanted a return to normal lives after the Covid-19 lockdowns, uncertainties and inequalities have prevailed. When there are wars, and pandemics, and cost of living crises, people suffer. This has been the context for the journal and those writing for it, doing peer review, making editorial decisions, and most critically perhaps for the people the journal is about. It feels important to acknowledge this.

In my last editorial I promised an update on the outcomes of the research about how people with learning disabilities might contribute to reviewing papers. The jury of people with learning disabilities who mulled over this issue aided by expert informants, reached consensus about why they would like to be involved in an inclusive peer review process. Their reasons focused on the opportunity this provides to discuss things that are important to them, to learn, be heard, and to feel good about being treated well. They thought that their involvement in peer review should be done in groups rather than as individuals. Also important to them was that the process should be unrushed and use accessible formats to review papers about things they know and that are relevant to their lives. In moving forward on this agenda we will be introducing a series of small pilot projects.

Respondents so far have often said that all of these are important as well as indicating what their preferences are and why. Before the decision is made and the call appears for editors to take forward that 2024 special issue, we have the special issue on digital inclusion of people with learning disabilities to look forward to in 2023.

As well as being a difficult year in many ways it has also been a productive year for the journal. The volume and quality of the papers we receive continues to rise. Having special issues and a lot of interest in the journal means both that authors may have to wait longer before their paper moves from being published online Early View to being allocated to an issue, and that the issues get bigger with more papers each time. Hence, we end the year with a big issue, rich in papers covering a range of the journal's core themes. There is a lot here for readers concerned with the heath of people with learning disabilities. The journal's stance of standing with people with learning disabilities is evident in papers on researching together and sustaining relationships. And the fundamentals of life are addressed: eating, mothering, having friendships, staying well, ageing. With so many papers I am not going to outline the contents of this issue in more detail. However I am going to end with a big thank you to everyone who has contributed to the issue, to the work this year, to the consultation, and to making this a journal we all want to be associated with.