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What expectations about the mind do people with intellectual disabilities depart from? A dominant argument maintains that their mental dependence troubles liberal relations premised upon a myth of autonomy. By analyzing the centrality of persuasion in a home for adults with intellectual disabilities in the UK, I ask instead about the psychological assumptions made by relationships of care. Persuasion aims to cultivate, not their independence from care but rather, a recognition of their dependence upon it. Persuasive care's repeated failure suggests an alternative answer to the question: people with intellectual disabilities are too independent-minded for this form of dependence.

Why do some people's minds seem conspicuous, disabled, and ill-fitting in some contexts and not others? This special issue presents articles about people in Jordan, Uganda, the United Kingdom and the United States who live with Down syndrome, autism, intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, or histories of brain injuries. We focus on the disjunctive encounters between these individuals' minds and the varied relational processes in their surrounding social world in order to understand why different mental characteristics become points of concern and comparison at some points and not others - and thus to raise questions about how "fitting in" works altogether.

Background: Little research exists comparing the social networks of people with intellectual disability (ID) from South Asian and White backgrounds. This UK study reports on the barriers that South Asian people with intellectual disability face in relation to social inclusion compared to their White counterparts., Materials and Methods: A mixed-methods research design was adopted to explore the social lives of 27 men (15 White; 12 South Asian) and 20 women (10 White; 10 South Asian with intellectual disability). Descriptive and parametric tests were used to analyse the quantitative data., Results: The average network size of the whole group was 32 members. South Asian participants had more family members whilst White participants had more service users and staff in their networks; 96% network members from White intellectual disability group were also of White background, whilst the South Asian group had mixed ethnic network members., Conclusions: Social networks of individuals with intellectual disability in this study were found to be larger overall in comparison with previous studies, whilst network structure differed between the White and South Asian population. These differences have implications relating to future service planning and appropriateness of available facilities., (© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Contact is seen as a key route to tackling stigma and discrimination. Contact theory states that the quality and type of contact, as well as circumstance of the contact experience, influence the effect of contact on prejudice. The majority of research in intellectual disabilities though has focused on contact as present or absent only., Method: A total of 1264 adult members of the UK general population completed measures of symptom recognition, social distance (as measure of external stigma) and causal beliefs in response to a diagnostically unlabelled vignette, depicting someone with intellectual disabilities., Results: A nuanced contact variable, including frequency of contact and closeness and nature of the contact relationship, explained more of the variance in social distance, compared to the binary variable (contact as present or absent). Only the closeness of the relationship was individually predictive though, and the models explained only relatively small amounts of the variance. Structural equation modelling of contact, recognition, social distance and causal beliefs demonstrated that the model including the nuanced variable was an adequate fit for the data., Conclusions: Future research aimed at increasing our understanding of intellectual disability stigma should avoid assessing contact as a binary variable only, but consider other factors, particularly the closeness of contact relationships. Anti-stigma interventions may benefit from focussing on causal attributions as a method of reducing stigma., (© 2015 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: School leavers with intellectual disabilities (ID) often face difficulties in making a smooth transition from school to college, employment or more broadly to adult life. The transition phase is traumatic for the young person with ID and their families as it often results in the loss of friendships, relationships and social networks., Method: The aim of this study was to explore the family carers' views and experiences on transition from school to college or to adult life with special reference to ethnicity. Forty-three families (consisting of 16 White British, 24 Pakistani, 2 Bangladeshi and one Black African) were interviewed twice using a semi-structured interview schedule. The carers were interviewed twice, Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2), T2 being a year later to observe any changes during transition., Results: The findings indicate that although transition planning occurred it was relatively later in the young person's school life. Parents were often confused about the process and had limited information about future options for their son or daughter. All family carers regardless of ethnicity, reported lack of information about services and expressed a sense of being excluded. South Asian families experienced more problems related to language, information about services, culture and religion., Conclusions: The majority of families lacked knowledge and awareness of formal services and the transition process. Socio-economic status, high levels of unemployment and caring for a child with a disability accounted for similar family experiences, regardless of ethnic background. The three key areas relevant for ethnicity are interdependence, religion and assumptions by service providers., (© 2012 The Authors. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research © 2012 John Wiley & Sons Ltd, MENCAP & IASSID.)

Background: One trade-off for increased independence of adults with intellectual disabilities in developing countries is that they may find themselves more exposed to the negative perceptions held by the general population regarding the mentally ill and disabled. The aim of this study was to adapt and translate a tool to measure felt stigma in people with intellectual disabilities designed in the United Kingdom (U.K.) to make it culturally viable, and to determine its reliability and validity in the multi-ethnic and multilingual context of South Africa (S.A.) and to compare the item responses and factor structures of the tool between the U.K. and S.A., Methods: We translated the tool into local languages and refined it by conducting focus groups and pilot studies with professionals and adults with intellectual disabilities, after which test-retest reliability, factor analysis and internal consistency were calculated., Results: Participants were from three different population groups: Afrikaans (n = 71; 37%), English (n = 67; 35%) and Xhosa (n = 53; 28%), who had mild (n = 106; 56%) or moderate intellectual disabilities (n = 85; 44%). 98 (51%) were re-interviewed. The resulting international version of the perceived stigma measure consisted of 10 questions with good test-retest reliability (κ ranging from 0.41 to 0.59) and a similar factor structure to the UK version, despite including a different set of questions., Conclusions: There is evidence for the validity of felt stigma ratings reported by adults with intellectual disabilities, despite different cultural and health service contexts., (© 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

Aims: To identify any UK children with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) and obtain information about the causes of progressive intellectual and neurological deterioration (PIND) and the geographical distribution of cases., Methods: The PIND Study uses the monthly surveillance card that is sent to all UK paediatricians by the British Paediatric Surveillance Unit. Case details are obtained from the reporting paediatricians by telephone interview, site visit, or self completion of a questionnaire. A paediatric neurology expert group then classifies the anonymised cases. The Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre (CDSC) provides mapping support., Results: After five years and five months of surveillance, 1400 children had been reported. In the UK the majority of PIND cases had a confirmed diagnosis (comprising 99 different conditions); 505 "no cases" and 97 "outstanding" cases were excluded. A total of 798 PIND cases were included as follows: 577 with a confirmed underlying diagnosis; six with definite or probable vCJD, 51 who had undiagnosed PIND but were not thought to have vCJD, and 164 cases who were still under investigation. In some districts there were unexpectedly high numbers of PIND cases with a heterogeneous mixture of underlying diagnoses. In the five districts with the largest numbers of resident cases the majority not only came from a particular ethnic group but also had high reported rates of consanguinity., Conclusions: In districts with large numbers of PIND cases there are major resource implications. These children and their families have complex problems and they need access to diagnostic facilities and appropriate service provision.