Inclusive New Media

About Accessibility

What is intellectual disability (ID)

Intellectual disabilities take many forms and have many effects, but they usually affect a person’s intellectual, social and emotional development. Generally speaking, someone with an intellectual disability will learn more slowly than other people of the same age. Growing up with an intellectual disability frequently means dependence on the support of others in the ordinary activities of daily life. Some people have difficulties communicating or socialising; others have problems with activities like reading, writing and using money; others find it difficult to understand or control their emotions or behaviour. There is also an increased prevalence of sensory and motor impairments amongst people with intellectual disabilities.

Cognitive disabilities and learning disabilities are similar to intellectual disabilities, but the three terms have different meanings in different parts of the world. Whilst ‘learning disability’ has been widely used in the UK (for example by Mencap, the UK’s largest learning disability charity), in the US, this term is used to refer to scholastic disabilities or limitations. In the UK, the term ‘learning difficulties’ is used to refer to such scholastic impairments. The key characteristics of the term ‘cognitive disability’ are a) that it can be acquired at any age (whereas learning disabilities are lifelong) and b) that it usually refers to a specific condition (whereas intellectual disability is often characterised by a complex of cognitive impairments).

All of this is a bit confusing, so to keep it simple, we use the term ‘intellectual disability’, in keeping with the recommendation of the World Health Organisation (WHO). WHO, along with the United Nations (UN), also use the term ‘mental retardation’ to refer to an IQ of less than 70, coupled with low levels of social and communication function. This term carries a whole host of negative connotations in the UK, where IQ is rarely referred to anyway, because of the difficulties and subjectiveness in measuring this.

For our purposes on this project, it is important to remember that ‘intellectual disability’ encompasses a range of conditions, each with its own complex accessibility requirements, and that producing guidelines for accessible web design for this group is also complex!

To look at some video clips of people with intellectual disabilities using the web and multimedia on Project @pple, a previous Rix Centre project, visit the Project @pple section of The Big Tree website.

“From the World Health Organisation’s website:

ICD-10 Chapter V: Mental and behavioural disorders.

A condition of arrested or incomplete development of the mind, which is especially characterized by impairment of skills manifested during the developmental period, skills which contribute to the overall level of intelligence, i.e. cognitive, language, motor, and social abilities. Retardation can occur with or without any other mental or physical condition.

Degrees of mental retardation are conventionally estimated by standardized intelligence tests. These can be supplemented by scales assessing social adaptation in a given environment. These measures provide an approximate indication of the degree of mental retardation. The diagnosis will also depend on the overall assessment of intellectual functioning by a skilled diagnostician.

Intellectual abilities and social adaptation may change over time, and, however poor, may improve as a result of training and rehabilitation. Diagnosis should be based on the current levels of functioning.”

Useful references and links:

• Emerson E., Hatton C., Felce D. and Murphy G. (2001) Learning disabilities – the fundamental facts, The Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities, London.
• The Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities
• Mencap – what is a learning disability?
• World Health Organisation