Mencap releases a report on attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities

Mencap is an organization from the United Kingdom. They made a study about the bad attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities. They found out that a lot of people do not understand what an intellectual disability is. Many people do not know all the things that people with intellectual disabilities can do. The study talks about the negatives attitudes around intellectual disability, so we can better fight them. Many people need to meet people with intellectual disabilities to understand them and get to know what they can do. This can happen at work, at school or through the media.

Inclusion Europe member Mencap, in collaboration with the University College London, has published a report on attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities in the United Kingdom.

The report identifies the perception of the larger public around intellectual disability, in an attempt to improve the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in society. By challenging the wrong attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities, barriers preventing them to be fully accepted within society could be broken down. The study gives a comprehensive analysis of the wrong attitudes that need to be challenged in the coming years.

Misunderstandings about the actual meaning of an intellectual disability or the capabilities of people with intellectual disabilities are common in the UK. Many people do not feel comfortable interacting with a person with intellectual disability, as they have never met a person with this type of a disability before. Thus, people with intellectual disabilities are often targets of discrimination, bullying or insults.

The report provides some recommendations to change the negative attitudes towards people with intellectual disabilities and work towards including them in communities. More frequent contact with persons with intellectual disabilities plays an important role in changing attitudes. Even indirect contact, through some positive media portrayals of intellectual disability for example, can have a great impact. The study also stresses the importance of educating children about intellectual disability at an early age in schools.

Children and adults with intellectual disabilities are often prevented from accessing experiences and opportunities granted to people without intellectual disabilities. Combatting the negative attitudes depicted in the report will help foster the equal participation of persons with intellectual disabilities in education, employment or social life.