title: Understanding intellectual disability in healthcare practice.
abstract: This article has been developed for allied health professionals. These practitioners may face significant barriers to providing high-quality healthcare to people with intellectual disabilities, just because they lack awareness of policies and initiatives in health. There are fundamental issues to address within the context of healthcare provision that are of direct relevance to improving services for people with intellectual disabilities with regard to their empowerment and the facilitation of care. Emphasis is placed upon the need for equity in healthcare for all and the need to avoid the tendency of society to homogenise all individual people with intellectual disabilities into one group, for whom empowerment cannot become panacea in reality.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Applied Sciences, University of Sunderland.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hayes
authors.forename: Glenn
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Batey
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001364:Awareness; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000523:psychology*; D011209:Power, Psychological; D012935:Social Justice; D006113:United Kingdom