Intellectual Disability
What Is An Intellectual Disability?
Intellectual disabilites refer to life-long limitations of the cognitive and intellectual abilities of a person that often result in the person requiring supervision in conducting activities of daily living.
A person with intellectual disability may have difficulty in
- Solving problems
- Remembering
- Comprehending
- Learning new information
- And acquiring new skills, including social skills.
Intellectual disability often has its onset in childhood and is linked to issues in brain development prior to or at birth. They are lifelong conditions and cannot be treated with any medication.
Degrees of intellectual disability
- Mild: People with mild intellectual disabilities may take longer than other people in the same age range to speak and understand, but they can communicate. They also have minimal or no difficulties in performing activities of daily living (washing, dressing, eating, etc.) by themselves.
- Moderate: People with moderate intellectual may have trouble communicating, understanding and learning when compared to others in their same age range. They also face some difficulties in performing activities of daily living (washing, dressing, eating, etc.) by themselves and may require assistance even as adults.
- Severe: People with severe intellectual disabilities often face difficulties in movement in addition to challenges communicating, understanding and learning when compared to others in their same age range. They often face a lot of difficulties in performing activities of daily living (washing, dressing, eating, etc.) by themselves and will require assistance even as adults.
- Profound: People with profound intellectual disabilities are often unable to move independently, communicate, understand and learn when compared to others in their same age range. They often are unable to perform activities of daily living (washing, dressing, eating, etc.) by themselves and will require lifelong assistance.
Down Syndrome
One common cause of intellectual disability is Down syndrome. This is the term used to refer to a set of cognitive and physical symptoms that can result from having an extra copy or part of chromosome 21.
People with down syndrome usually have an intellectual impairment ranging from Mild to Moderate
How To refer To A Person With Intellectual Disability
Avoid
- Retarded/ retard
- Brain damaged
- Dumb
- Slow
- Special ed
Use
- Intellectual disability
- Intellectual impairment
- Person with intellectual disability/impairment
- Person with Down Syndrome
Remember: ask for the respectful word to refer to individuals with disabilities in your local language since some local terms a offensive. Prioritize the individual and use their names. There is debate within the disability community about the use of the word impairment in this context. In some African countries, “impairment” is preferred as it directly relates to the “Impairment + Barrier =Disability” definition used in the UNCRPD, while in other contexts around the world, “disability” is the preferred term as it emphasizes how a person has been disabled by society.
Most importantly, ask the person with the intellectual disability what terms they prefer.
General tips for Inclusion Of People with Intellectual Disability
- Take time and build trust to enable the person to feel comfortable with you
- Speak clearly while using easy to understand words. Keep your sentences short
- Repeat or rephrase what you have said to aid understanding
- Use pictures or any other visuals to demonstrate key concepts
- Do not exaggerate or use childish expressions
- Choose a quiet and calm place to have your conversation
- Don’t rush: Take your time
- Use gestures and facial expressions for example, look sad when explaining that you are unhappy
- Check with the person to see if they have understood.
- Repeat information regularly
Specific tips on how to include people with intellectual disability in education / training
- Give clear instructions, one at a time
- Break down a task / assignment in smaller steps
- Give tasks one by one: add the next task when the previous task is mastered
- Take extra time to explain and give more time to practice
- Make sure there is enough leisure/rest time between learning periods
- Repeat information regularly
- Use different approaches to enhance understanding
- Be generous with praise and encouragement
- Discover ways to reduce disruptive behaviour with consultation with their family/ assistants.
- Create an individual action plan with realistic objectives for the students to reach
- Raise awareness to improve their social inclusion and prevent bullying
- As a trainer you need to be patient and flexible.
- Ask what they can and want to do.
- Give life skills training when needed.
- Parents/caregivers need to brought on board/engaged
- Use peer support as much as possible
- Make sure the work or learning environment is safe, remove any potentially harmful/hazardous materials/equipment or ensure use with close supervision
Specific tips on how to include people with intellectual disability in employment
- Break down tasks for individuals with intellectual disability
- Encourage colleagues to support as much as possible
- Make sure the work or training or meeting environment is safe, remove any potentially harmful or hazardous materials and equipment or ensure use with close supervision.
- Work with participants to create an individual action plan with realistic objectives for them to reach within the parameters of the program.
- Budget for – and include – a personal assistant if needed