BYKER Grove stars yesterday helped launch a campaign to raise awareness and understanding of what it means to have a learning disability.

Twins Alex and Dominic Beebe and Annie Orwin - who play Adam and Luke and foster mum Lou Gallagher in the TV series - unveiled Mencap's advertising campaign, Opening up New Worlds, in Newcastle.

They were joined by the stars of the campaign, Susan Fleet, of Middlesbrough, and Jeffrey Overal, of Consett, County Durham, who both have learning disabilities.

If the campaign is successful, Mencap is planning to roll it out nationally.

Trudy Brown, from Tyne and Wear, and Wayne Thompson, from Newcastle, who also both have a learning disability, provided the voiceovers for the campaign's radio advertisements.

Ms Orwin said: "A learning disability affects a person's ability to learn and do practical, everyday things that many of us take for granted.

"Yet, as Susan and Jeffrey prove, people with a learning disability can achieve a lot in life if they are given the right support."

Mencap regional manager Anne McManus said: "There are around 52,000 children and adults with a learning disability in the North-East.

"Yet research shows that the general public has a poor understanding of what it means to have a learning disability.

"We hope that Mencap's advertising campaign will increase the public's understanding and make them realise that we are able to make a very real difference to people with a learning disability and help them lead fulfilling lives."

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