What everyone should know about intellectual disability

Pages: 463-468
M. R. Banahatti, Netravati Barker and Rashmi. A. Appannavar (Department of Psychology, KLEs Linagaraj College, Belagavi, Karnataka)

During the last decades the expectancies towards sexual life of people with intellectual disability have been more and more recognized by researchers, clinicians, caregivers and parents. These expectancies that largely depend on socio-cultural and personal factors, such as the level of disability. People who suffer from intellectual disability are an integral part of our society. They are called by many names- mentally challenged, “special”, differently abled and a variety of other names- some of them demeaning. Background attitudes to the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities have been studied extensively, yet evidence on public awareness about ID and stigma is limited. The relationship between attitudes, knowledge and stigma associated with ID is poorly understood. The present article highlights of relationship between them in the context of a multicultural society. The aim of the present paper is to review the different research works conducted in this area.