Attitude of General Public, Family Members, and Health Professionals Towards People With Intellectual Disabilities (PWID)

Attitude defines one's behavior towards the people with intellectual disability (PWID). History on PWID indicates influence of psycho-social, biological, religious, and educational factors for the existence of stereotypical attitudes. But since the early part of the 21st century efforts have been reported across countries in integrating the PWID in the community at large. Families of PWID undergo high levels of stress and emotional reactions which call for intervention. Families often adopt strategies to hide the existence of a disability, which delays the treatment and rehabilitation of PWID. Also, stakeholder attitudes towards them highly influences their rehabilitation and integration in the mainstream society. Hence, this chapter is an attempt to focus on the importance of attitude towards individuals with intellectual disability by general public, family members, teachers, students, employers, and health professionals and its implications and further recommendations for the betterment of their condition.

Struggles of a Child with ID and Their Family Members

There are many children with intellectual disability (ID) in recent years. The increase in numbers reflects the knowledge regarding the issue, thus creating awareness and increased detection for children for any developmental delay. Consequently, medical services are seeing and treating younger cohorts. Their disability may be mild to moderate, making it difficult even for medical professionals to identify these children. Invariably all parents want to have healthy, intelligent, and capable children who can achieve independence and a successful life. The reality is that parents having children with ID often struggle to understand what is happening with their child, what more how to cope with and help their child. Added to their distress is that even professionals dealing with the children and their family have various ideas and beliefs regarding this issue. Identifying families who are struggling and offering them the appropriate advice is essential as these families need proper guidance and services for their child.

Sexuality, Sexual Abuse, Marriage, Partner Violence, and Parenting Skills Among Persons With Intellectual Disability

Sexuality begins from the moment of birth and has an active role in the development, evolution, emotional balance, and affective stability of the individual. It has a significant role in interpersonal and couple's relationships. The sexuality of people with intellectual disability is important from the view of medical, pedagogical, psychological, and ethical aspects. As intellectually disabled person approach puberty their control of behavior and expression of sexuality may manifest in unacceptable ways. They are also at increased risk for physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. The chapter focused on the sexuality, the risk of sexual abuse, marriage, partner violence among people with intellectual disability. The requirement of sex education and components of sex education for various age ranges were also explained and effectiveness of such programs were also discussed. The chapter also discussed the parenting and challenges involved in parenting among intellectually disabled individuals.

Emotional Intelligence in Individuals With Intellectual disability

This chapter is aimed to draw attention to the integrated understanding of an individual with intellectual disability. It is very well known that intellectual disability is described as significant inefficiency in cognitive skills like learning, reasoning, problem solving, and in adaptive behavior, but this is not all when the individual is considered as a whole. This is where emotional intelligence comes in to help the individual cope with the cognitive disability. This chapter will discuss emotional intelligence in people with intellectual disability and how understanding of this will lead to better management plans for individual with intellectual disability, which will in turn lead to better empowerment. Further, this chapter will discuss the research gaps in this area and future study scope.

Assessment and Management of ID in Childhood

Intellectual disability is a neurodevelopment disorder that affects the intellectual and adaptive functioning. The individual fails to meet standards of personal independence and social responsibility in one or more aspects of daily life, including communication, social participation, academic or occupational functioning, and personal independence at home or in community settings. There is an immense need to understand and be aware of the signs and symptoms of the disorder. This chapter focuses on the process of the assessment which is necessary to identify intellectual deficiency and also the issues that should be taken care of during the process. The various principles and tools of assessment, which can be used to measure IQ, are mentioned. It also focuses on the various challenging behaviors and functional analysis. It also focuses on recent and efficient management strategies that can be used to help the affected person cope and acquire new skills.

Living With Intellectual Disability

The need to understand the quality of life of people with intellectual disability is crucial as this mental disability is considered to be a major setback for any individual and his/her family. Current researches focus on creating an equal platform to understand intellectual disability in order to gain more acceptances from the masses, especially for the families who have a member suffering from intellectual disability. The age of the family member and available care taking measures are also of critical value. Models of therapy/interventions drawn from previous evidence-based practices give a bright picture.

Mental Health Issues, Wellbeing, and Related Issues Among Caregivers of Individuals With Intellectual Disability

Caregivers are the important and integral part in the lives of people with intellectual disability. As caregiving is extensive and mostly lifelong for this population, the associated burden, stigma, and also wellbeing of the caregivers are also equally important as these are often very directly correlated with the wellbeing of the individuals with intellectual disability. The chapter focused on the issues and impacts of caregiving, mental health problems, wellbeing, and related issues of caregivers. The authors also discuss the various facets of stigma caregivers do face and ways to deal with the stigma.

Role of Stress and Age in Resilience Among Parents of the Children with Intellectual Disability

Parents of children with intellectual disability face various stressful situations. However, many of them show resilience even in the midst of challenges and are able to meaningfully contribute to the life of the child. In the present study, the factors of stress that hinder resilience are assessed in a sample of 50 parents of intellectually disabled children. Stress scale for parents of mentally challenged (SPMC) developed by Rejitha, Biji, and Jayan was used to measure the stress of the parents. Resilience was measured using the Bharathiar University resilience scale, developed by Annalakshmi. Results showed extra-familial stress as a significant inverse predictor of resilience. Older parents are relatively more resilient when compared to the younger.

Intellectual Disability (ID)

Intellectual disability (ID, also known as mental retardation) is a condition of arrested or incomplete development of the mind. ID is especially characterized by impairment of skills manifested during the developmental period, which contribute to the overall level of intelligence (i.e., cognitive, language, motor, and social abilities). The understanding about intellectual disability, mainly its features, causes and intervention has a long history. Researches on causes of intellectual disability lead to finding of multiple etiological factors which reflected well on its improved management techniques. The changes in terminology used describe intellectual disability also reflected our understanding about it different dimensions including social stigma. This chapter focused to give an overall view about its history, changes in terminology, classification, epidemiology, etiology, comorbidities, and management. Over the years, there are many changes and findings that have happened, yet many questions are unanswered related to this condition.

Reflecting on Crime and Legal Issues in People With Intellectual Disabilities

This chapter discusses research findings on intellectual disability (ID), criminal law, and the different forms of aggressive behavior such as sexual violence, homicide, theft, arson, and alcohol-drug abuse. ID is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder, characterized by significantly impaired and varying intellectual-adaptive functioning. Given that a number of legal issues have been raised over the past decades regarding individuals with ID and civil as well as criminal law, particular attention will also be given to neuropsychological research regarding civil law and the most common problems for individuals with ID, such as financial capacity and capacity for medical consent. Finally, there will be a section for the most important issues regarding the trial and conviction for individuals with ID, and a presentation of a research on attitudes toward ID and legal issues. The chapter concludes with suggestions for reform of the law relating to ID and the need for further research.