Intellectual disability
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Intellectual disability describes a range of impairments, experiences and characteristics. It can involve difficulty with communication, memory, understanding, problem solving, fine and gross motor skills, and everyday life skills.
There are different ways of diagnosing intellectual disability. It can be based on an assessment of how well a person completes their daily tasks and if their IQ is less than 70. It can also be based on an assessment of the person’s functioning or participation deficits in more than two areas of their life. People with intellectual disability are born with their impairment or acquire their impairment during their developmental years.
Inclusion Australia advocates for the social model of disability, which says that social barriers, rather than a person’s individual impairments, create their disability. Intellectual disability does not define who a person is. Each individual has their own personality, interests, skills and needs.
