Intellectual disability in India—an update

Abstract

Organised services in the area of intellectual disability (ID) in India started in the 1950s mainly in the form of special schools. There were a few centres, which ran mental retardation clinics and CGC almost exclusively in big cities. This area attracted considerable professional interest in the 1970s and the 1980s, especially in parent training and family stress and coping. Subsequently, several innovative models of family-focussed services evolved. The setting up of the National Institute for the Mentally Handicapped, in Secunderabad was a major turning point and filled the gap for human resource development. Two Acts of parliament in the 1990s—the Persons with Disabilities Act and the National Trust Act—significantly contributed to the empowerment of persons with ID and their families. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, has provided much needed impetus for education of children with ID. Inclusion of ID in community-based rehabilitation initiatives has been another positive development. Another major development has been the formation of parent associations all over India. A variety of measures to ensure social justice have been introduced, but access and extent of utilisation are causes for concern. There has been a small, but growing body of research on epidemiology, biomedical and psychosocial research in this population. The roadmap for future needs to include a truly rights-based approach, inter-sectoral collaboration, development of comprehensive models from a life-span perspective and evaluative research.