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Intellectual disability in India: the evolving patterns of care

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Satish Chandra Girimaji
Satish Chandra Girimaji*
Affiliation:
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India, email [email protected]
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Intellectual disability was recognised in ancient Indian literature, but organised services have a history of just five decades. India shares many features of low- and middle-income (LAMI) countries regarding intellectual disability. There is a low level of awareness about its nature, causes and interventions. One can come across many superstitions, myths and misconceptions about intellectual disability. In general, services are inadequate, being concentrated in big cities and urban areas. There is generally limited access to support services and few government benefits, and these, in any case, are often of little value (World Health Organization, 2007). Locally and nationally, there are few relevant and reliable epidemiological data on the prevalence of intellectual disability. However, there have been some positive developments within the past three decades, and they are the focus of this paper.

Type
Thematic Papers – Empowering People With Intellectual Disability
Information
International Psychiatry , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , May 2011 , pp. 29 - 31
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists 2011

References

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