People With Intellectual Disabilities Forgotten By US Health Care System

[HuckleB]

People With Intellectual Disabilities Are Forgotten in the US Health Care System

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=28900

"10 Aug 2005

Research Reveals That a Person With an Intellectual Disability Would Have to Call 50 Doctors to Find One Who Had a Minimum Amount of Training to Treat Him/Her

Studies commissioned by Special Olympics validate the view that individuals with intellectual disabilities face widespread health problems, while physicians, dentists and other health professionals are not receiving the training to adequately treat them.

While people with intellectual disabilities are no longer forgotten in institutions, they are often overlooked and forgotten in the health care system.

"The health of people with intellectual disabilities is much worse than that of people without disabilities," states Mary Helen Witten of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

..."


I suppose it's not shocking. And yet, how can it not be? Certainly, it should be.

[HuckleB]

1. Memory being what it is...

[REP]

2. Is Their Health Worse Due to Their Condition?

Some congenital causes of intellectual disability, such as Down's Syndrome, also cause a host of severe health problems. Also, if the intellectually disabled being followed lived by themselves, might not their disability prevent them from caring for themselves as well as someone without an intellectual disability?

While some health conditions may be unique to some congenital/genetic conditions that also cause intellectual deficit, I'm not sure why say a dentist would need special training to fill an ID person's tooth.

[HuckleB]

3. This isn't about health, it's about the ability to get decent care.

[HuckleB]

4. Ugh. Sometimes the narrowness at DU drives me to sadness.

If people at DU can't respond to information like this, what chance do those living with developmental disabilities have in this bloody world?