It is up to healthcare professionals to talk to us in a way that we can understand: informed consent processes in people with an intellectual disability

People with an intellectual disability form a sizeable minority group. Estimates of prevalence vary, depending on criteria used, but it is thought that intellectual disability affects around 1%–2% of the world population.1 2 Intellectual disability is present when the following three criteria are met: a significantly reduced ability to understand new or complex information, or to learn and apply new skills (impaired intelligence); a reduced ability to cope independently (impaired social functioning); and beginning before adulthood, with a lasting effect on development.3 4 Health inequities People with an intellectual disability experience stark health inequities. Understanding the causes of these inequities is important in making steps towards addressing them. The ‘Learning from Lives and Deaths’ (LeDeR) programme, which has investigated deaths of people with an intellectual disability and autistic people in England since 2016,5 contributes towards achieving such understanding....
Source: BMJ Quality and Safety - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Editorials Source Type: research