Adults with intellectual or other developmental disabilities (IDD) face a cascade of health disparities. They often:
- have complex or difficult-to-treat medical conditions
- have difficulty accessing health care
- may receive inadequate health care
- may have difficulties expressing their symptoms and pain
- receive little attention to wellness, preventive care, and health promotion
Yet these adults deserve quality, patient-centered health care as well as the general population.
The Toolkit for Primary Care Providers is a project of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development, the University of Tennessee Boling Center for Developmental Disabilities and the Tennessee Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and is funded by the WITH Foundation, formerly the Special Hope Foundation.
These tools were developed by the Developmental Disabilities Primary Care Initiative (DDPCI) (2005 – 2014), Surrey Place Centre, Toronto, Canada, funded by Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services and Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Surrey Place Centre, and Surrey Place Centre Charitable Foundation. The DDPCI published Tools for the Primary Care of People with Developmental Disabilities to complement the Primary care of adults with developmental disabilities: Canadian consensus guidelines. All tools © 2011 Surrey Place Centre. Adapted for use in the U.S. by the Developmental Disabilities Health Care E-Toolkit Project.