The first phase of a new study highlights the needs of needs of older people with intellectual disabilities. Erin Goldenreports
In the past 30 years, the number of people over 35 years old with intellectual disabilities has doubled, with many living well past retirement age, according to new research.
But, according to Dr Philip Dodd, a psychiatrist who is spearheading the research, existing services for the elderly are not suitable for people with such unique needs.
"It's a relatively recent phenomenon that people with intellectual disabilities are living into their 50s, 60s, 70s," says Dodd, a consultant pyschiatrist at St Michael's House in Dublin, an organisation which caters for the needs of those with intellectual disabilities.
"This study came out of my own experience with a number of people - people who found quite a lot of stigma against people with disabilities in ordinary older-age groups in the community."
The first phase of Dodd's study, which partners University College Dublin researchers with St Michael's staff and is the first of its type to be undertaken in the State, began in April 2006.
In the past 12 months, researchers interviewed a random sample of 75 of the 150 people over age 50 who receive services from St Michael's about their needs.
According to Dodd, the initial results have both confirmed existing knowledge and provided new insight into the concerns of an often under-served population.
"Some of the needs have not been what we had expected," he says.
"Education and transport were what they said they'd need most. Twenty-eight of the 75 people identified basic education as their greatest concern."
The group included people on both ends of the intellectual disability spectrum, from men and women with mild communication and comprehension difficulties to profoundly disabled people without any verbal communication skills.
As a result, Dodd's team will compare the data with information gathered from a second phase of interviews with caretakers to confirm the survey results.
The final phase of the project will be the development of a pilot care project at St Michael's, which Dodd hopes will serve as a blueprint for other services around the State.
"Our research will feed into the policy which will feed directly into the actual service the individual is getting," he says.
The development of new service plans will focus on allowing people to remain in the same home and work environment, rather than being moved to a separate care facility.
"We're going to come up with some best practice trends, and that has a lot to do with ageing in place - encouraging the individual to stay as long as possible in whatever setting they are used to and supporting them there," Dodd says.
Dodd's team plans to complete the interview phases of the study in September and then begin working with St Michael's staff to implement a pilot service plan next January.
And although changing the system of care will undoubtedly provide new financial and staffing challenges for many sectors, Dodd is hopeful that care givers and policy-makers will fully back the study recommendations.
"Service providers are definitely looking for cost-effective ways of supporting people, and the quality agenda is quite powerful now within intellectual disability service providers," he says.
"While intellectual disability matters aren't on top of the [ political] agenda, the disability lobby is certainly very strong."