US Health Care System Ignores People With Intellectual Disabilities

[HuckleB]

People With Intellectual Disabilities Are Forgotten in the US Health Care System

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=28900

"10 Aug 2005

Research Reveals That a Person With an Intellectual Disability Would Have to Call 50 Doctors to Find One Who Had a Minimum Amount of Training to Treat Him/Her

Studies commissioned by Special Olympics validate the view that individuals with intellectual disabilities face widespread health problems, while physicians, dentists and other health professionals are not receiving the training to adequately treat them.

While people with intellectual disabilities are no longer forgotten in institutions, they are often overlooked and forgotten in the health care system.

"The health of people with intellectual disabilities is much worse than that of people without disabilities," states Mary Helen Witten of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

..."


I suppose it's not shocking. And yet, how can it not be? Certainly, it should be.

[undergroundpanther]

1. I can't do math

by math I mean simple math,yet I can do geometry calculus(with a tool for the addition subtraction ect.I dunno why .
I count change slowly..and this drives everyone around me bonkers in thuis hurry up culture.I hate being confused about math because it's everywhere.No one has been able to help me yet.Also I have synthesia another type of thing people tend to not understand.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia

[demigoddess]

2. I have a retarded daughter and sometimes I have to pull a minor tantrum

to get them to take something seriously about her. I told them for years she was hitting herself and such and needed something to help. They would just look at me blankly. Then one day , she spent 45 minutes screaming in the dr. s office because she hates being left to sit in those small rooms. I had a minor meltdown and told them to figure something out and call me. followed up with a letter naming all the steps and evaluations we hadgone through.

Advice, Get an advocate or friend to go with you to drs. meetings and such. It is allowed under the law and will help a great deal. Also follow up with letters and ask that they be inserted into your medical record.