An Overview on Issues Among Individuals With Intellectual Disability in India

Abstract

Intelligence is the general mental capacity that involves reasoning, planning, solving problems, thinking abstractly, comprehending complex ideas, learning efficiently, and learning from experience. Intellectual disability (previously termed “mental retardation”) shows significant cognitive deficits (IQ score of below 70, i.e., two standard deviations below the mean of 100 in the population) and also significant deficits in functional and adaptive skills. Individuals with intellectual disability meet with various challenges in every span of life. The chapter tries to highlight some of the areas that are related to the concerns for the people with intellectual disability.

“When They See a Wheelchair, They’ve Not Even Seen Me”—Factors Shaping the Experience of Disability Stigma and Discrimination in Kenya

“…This conceptualization of stigma as an interactional phenomenon “ based on multiple grounds, including prejudice, religious beliefs, low expectations and even fear ” was also outlined in the 2019 Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Awareness-raising under article 8 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [ 20 ], which recognizes the importance of understanding how disability stigma develops in order to design effective strategies to combat prejudice and discrimination. Yet, despite the intrinsic dual nature of stigma as a social and interactional construct, most empirical research carried out in this area aims at either evaluating the impact of stigma on people with disabilities [ 21 , 22 , 23 ] or developing and testing stigma-reduction strategies among people without disabilities [ 10 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ]. Even when researchers have focused on identifying the main factors that shape stereotypes and stigma surrounding disabilities, this is usually from solely the perspective of people without disabilities [ 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ] or, less commonly, looking at the construction of self-stigma among people with disabilities [ 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ].…”