Ageing and Intellectual Disability

Mainstream policy for older people in Ireland, north and south, has ignored the specific needs of. people with an intellectual disability, highlights a new Research Brief issued by the Centre for Ageing Research and Development in Ireland. ‘Ageing and Intellectual Disability’ is based on research which gave older people with intellectual disability a voice. It was led by Professor Roy McConkey from the University of Ulster and funded by CARDI’s research grants programme. The research brief, which was launched at a seminar in Newry on 27 May 2011, shows that people with intellectual disability are living longer than ever before. In the Republic of Ireland the proportion of people with an intellectual disability who were aged 35 or more jumped from 29% in 1974 to 49% in 2009. In Northern Ireland about 2,200 people with intellectual disability in 2003 were aged 50+ but this is projected to rise to 4,100 by 2020.

Link to brief: Ageing and intellectual disability