What is an Intellectual Disability?

An intellectual disability is when limitations in your mental abilities affect learning, communication, adaptive behaviour and everyday life skills. The effects of this can vary widely. Some people may experience minor effects but still live independent lives. Others may have severe effects and need lifelong assistance and support.

Intellectual disabilities are commonly present early on in a person’s development.

An intellectual disability can affect the following skills:

  • Reasoning:
    • The ability to understand cause and effect of their actions, establish and verify facts, justify actions, change beliefs and process new information can be impaired.
  • Problem solving:
    • Problem solving is a process, it requires thinking of solutions to the problem, evaluating the solutions, choosing a solution and applying the solution. Any step of this process can be hindered.
  • Conceptual skills:
    • Understanding concepts of how language, money, numbers and time work may be difficult.
  • Social skills:
    • Difficulty in regulating emotions, developing interpersonal relationships, understanding boundaries and following rules and social norms.
  • Practical skills:
    • Even daily living skills such as personal hygiene, grooming, shopping, cooking, using tools and instruments and completing simple tasks can be challenging.

Sensory Challenges

  • Hypersensitivity:
    • This is where the brain receives too much sensory information. The sensory information is overwhelming for the person, causing an overreaction to normal senses.
  • Hyposensitivity:
    • This is where the brain receives too little sensory information. There is not enough information to cause any type of reaction to normal senses.

Physical Challenges

  • Hearing impairment
  • Visual impairment
  • Reduced gross and fine motor skills
  • Mobility issues
  • Other health concerns

These are lifelong challenges. They do not go away and the person will not grow out of them. People with intellectual disabilities can learn, grow, and adapt to these challenges but there may be things the person will never be capable of.