Inclusive New Media Design » People with intellectual disabilities http://www.inclusivenewmedia.org/blog including people with intellectual disabilities in the WWW Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:38:46 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 Profound intellectual disabilities http://www.inclusivenewmedia.org/blog/392/id-accessible-websites/people-with-intellectual-disabilities/profound-learning-disabilities/ http://www.inclusivenewmedia.org/blog/392/id-accessible-websites/people-with-intellectual-disabilities/profound-learning-disabilities/#comments Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:57:39 +0000 Helen Kennedy http://www.inclusivenewmedia.org/blog/?p=392 A small number of adults have PROFOUND intellectual disabilities and need intense support in all aspects of their lives. They almost always have additional physical and sensory disabilities. People with profound intellectual disabilities may indicate their mood and immediate needs to people who know them well, but do not understand or communicate using conventional language.

The video below shows people with profound intellectual disabilities using the web. Before that there is a link to a PDF summarising key barriers to web access for this group, techniques you can use to overcome these barriers, examples of good sites for this audience, and some useful links. The same PDF is used for people with severe and profound learning disabilities.

Profound Intellectual Disabilities Checklist (PDF 84kB)

]]> http://www.inclusivenewmedia.org/blog/392/id-accessible-websites/people-with-intellectual-disabilities/profound-learning-disabilities/feed/ 0 Severe intellectual disabilities http://www.inclusivenewmedia.org/blog/390/id-accessible-websites/people-with-intellectual-disabilities/severe-learning-disabilities/ http://www.inclusivenewmedia.org/blog/390/id-accessible-websites/people-with-intellectual-disabilities/severe-learning-disabilities/#comments Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:56:49 +0000 Helen Kennedy http://www.inclusivenewmedia.org/blog/?p=390 Some people have SEVERE intellectual disabilities. Even as adults they will need a lot of help and support with daily living. They will often have limited or eccentric communication and will have no literacy or numeric skills.

The video below shows people with severe intellectual disabilities using the web. Before that, there is a link to a PDF summarising key barriers to web access for this group, techniques you can use to overcome these barriers, examples of good sites for this audience, and some useful links. The same PDF is used for people with severe and profound learning disabilities.

Severe Intellectual Disabilities Checklist (PDF 84kB)

]]> http://www.inclusivenewmedia.org/blog/390/id-accessible-websites/people-with-intellectual-disabilities/severe-learning-disabilities/feed/ 0 Mild intellectual disabilities http://www.inclusivenewmedia.org/blog/385/id-accessible-websites/people-with-intellectual-disabilities/mild-learning-disabilities/ http://www.inclusivenewmedia.org/blog/385/id-accessible-websites/people-with-intellectual-disabilities/mild-learning-disabilities/#comments Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:54:29 +0000 Helen Kennedy http://www.inclusivenewmedia.org/blog/?p=385 People with MILD intellectual difficulties might learn slowly in school; they usually have problems reading or writing, but they may still work. They generally have good social relationships and contribute to society with a little help and support.

The video below shows people with mild intellectual disabilities using the web. Before that, there is a link to a PDF summarising key barriers to web access for this group, techniques you can use to overcome these barriers, examples of good sites for this audience, and some useful links.

Mild Intellectual Disabilities Checklist (PDF 84kB)

]]> http://www.inclusivenewmedia.org/blog/385/id-accessible-websites/people-with-intellectual-disabilities/mild-learning-disabilities/feed/ 0 What is intellectual disability? http://www.inclusivenewmedia.org/blog/383/id-accessible-websites/people-with-intellectual-disabilities/what-is-learning-disability/ http://www.inclusivenewmedia.org/blog/383/id-accessible-websites/people-with-intellectual-disabilities/what-is-learning-disability/#comments Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:48:53 +0000 Helen Kennedy http://www.inclusivenewmedia.org/blog/?p=383 The following overlapping terms are all used when talking about intellectual disability:

  • Intellectual disability
  • Learning disability
  • Learning difficulty
  • Cognitive disability
  • Mental retardation
  • Developmental disabilities.

Who uses which term? Term use can be summed up as follows:

  • Most UK social/health services use the term ‘learning disabilities’ and are likely to continue doing so.
  • UK Government guidance in most areas also uses ‘learning disabilities’ interchangeably with ‘learning difficulties’.
  • In practically every other country ‘learning disabilities’ is used to describe scholastic disabilities, such as those often characterised as dyslexia.
  • The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommend the term intellectual disabilities.
  • The WHO (along with the United Nations (UN)) also use the term mental retardation, but this has negative connotations in the UK.
  • It’s important to be aware that most non-UK references to learning disabilities are not referring to intellectual disabilities.

whatisID-1what is intellectual disability?people-id-2considering affected people

The UK Government Paper Valuing People (2001) quotes 1999 figures for incidence of learning/intellectual disabilities as:

  • Mild intellectual disabilities: 25 per 1000 people or 1.2 million people in total.
  • Severe and profound intellectual disabilities: 210,000 people.

The Mencap Website (2008) quotes 2007 figures as:

  • 1.5 million people in the UK have an intellectual disability.
  • 200 babies are born with a learning disability every week.

The number of people with intellectual disabilities is rising by about 1% a year because of:

  • better life-expectancy, for example for people with Down’s Syndrome.
  • better life-expectancy and post-natal care.
  • the increasing number of children surviving birth complications.
]]> http://www.inclusivenewmedia.org/blog/383/id-accessible-websites/people-with-intellectual-disabilities/what-is-learning-disability/feed/ 0 People with intellectual disabilities (ID) http://www.inclusivenewmedia.org/blog/3/id-accessible-websites/people-with-intellectual-disabilities/mild-id/ http://www.inclusivenewmedia.org/blog/3/id-accessible-websites/people-with-intellectual-disabilities/mild-id/#comments Mon, 03 Aug 2009 15:21:50 +0000 Helen Kennedy http://www.inclusivenewmedia.org/blog/?p=3 An intellectual disability (ID) is also known as a learning disability (LD) or cognitive disability. People with such disabilities tend to refer to themselves as having learning disabilities. But we use the term intellectual disability in this website because it is recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and increasingly used in discussions of accessibility.

An intellectual disability, or learning disability, is a mental impairment which is present from birth or acquired early in life. This results in a low IQ. This is a very simple definition.

It is more helpful understand that people with intellectual disabilities can be very different from each other. People with intellectual disabilities might:

  • Learn slowly
  • Have problems reading and writing
  • Have problems using money
  • Need the help of others to do ordinary things
  • Find it difficult to talk and communicate
  • Find it difficult to control or understand their feelings or behaviour
  • Have other physical disabilities as well.

There is much more information about people with different degrees of intellectual disability in this section of the website.

people-id-1involving people with intellectual disabilitieswhatisID-2understanding intellectual disability

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