By Special Olympics International
The Special Olympics Global Report (report) draws attention to how individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience severe health disparities because health systems often fail to recognize and address their health needs. The report indicates that individuals with IDD disproportionately face a variety of health challenges, such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and mental health conditions. As a result, people with IDD die 16-20 years sooner than the general population due to preventable health conditions.
Many people with IDD identify with the notion of having an invisible disability because their support needs are not immediately apparent to others. When these support needs go unnoticed, health systems often fail to include essential accommodations in policies and practices. This lack of accommodations results in barriers to accessing high-quality health services. Some of these barriers include inaccessible written and verbal information, strict time constraints during appointments, complex systems to navigate, and negative attitudes.
Addressing systemic barriers is essential to creating inclusive health systems and supporting people with IDD to lead healthy lifestyles and experience improved quality of life. The report offers 15 recommendations for health systems to address the barriers to health services that people with IDD experience, summarized into four calls to action that are achievable over the next three to five years:
- Governance, leadership, and engagement: Invest in the visibility and voices of people with IDD and ensure people with IDD have a say in those investments.
- Person-centered care: Provide health information in Easy Read formats as a key accommodation and promote the autonomy of people with IDD in making informed healthcare decisions.
- Health and care workforce: Make IDD-specific training mandatory for inter-professional health and care teams in curricula, accreditation, and continuing education.
- Data for monitoring and research: Disaggregate data by disability types to ensure people with IDD are accurately represented in health data systems.
The report further showcases existing practices in the United States and other countries that promote inclusion in health systems. It highlights the importance of adopting a social and rights-based model of disability, focusing on addressing the societal barriers that lead to health inequities. The global call to action underscored in the report encourages health systems to be inclusive of the needs of people with IDD—ensuring they are seen, empowered, and supported in their healthcare experiences.
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