Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 172 countries. Special Olympics competitions are held daily, all around the world—including local, national and regional competitions, adding up to more than 100,000 events a year. Like the International Paralympic Committee, the Special Olympics organization is recognized by the International Olympic Committee; however, unlike the Paralympic Games, its World Games are not held in the same year nor in conjunction with the Olympic Games.
The term imbecile was once used by psychiatrists to denote a category of people with moderate to severe intellectual disability, as well as a type of criminal. The word arises from the Latin word imbecillus, meaning weak, or weak-minded. It originally referred to people of the second order in a former and discarded classification of intellectual disability, with a mental age of three to seven years and an IQ of 25–50, above "idiot" and below "moron". In the obsolete medical classification, these people were said to have "moderate mental retardation" or "moderate mental subnormality" with IQ of 35–49, as they are usually capable of some degree of communication, guarding themselves against danger and performing simple mechanical tasks under supervision.
Willowbrook State School was a state-supported institution for children with intellectual disabilities in the Willowbrook neighborhood of Staten Island in New York City, which operated from 1947 until 1987.
Elizabeth Vera Perlin, OC was a Canadian advocate for the rights of the mentally disabled and a reformer who influenced the entire school system of Newfoundland and broke new ground on a national scale with her vision and accomplishments. Perlin was the founder of the Newfoundland Association for the Help of Retarded Children, founded two years before the nationally orientated Canadian Association for Community Living.
Movement for the Intellectually Disabled of Singapore (MINDS) is a voluntary welfare organisation based in Singapore, that provides services for the intellectually disabled. MINDS was founded in 1962, and remains one of the largest charities in Singapore. Over 600 staff and 2,400 beneficiaries are a part of MINDS. Two other organisations, the Association for Persons with Special Needs and Metta School were formed as an offshoot of MINDS.
Self-advocacy is the act of speaking up for oneself and one's interests. It is used as a name for civil rights movements and mutual aid networks for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The term arose in the broader civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s, and is part of the disability rights movement. Today there are self-advocacy organizations across the world.
A group home, congregate living facility, care home, adult family home, etc., is a structured and supervised residence model that provides assisted living and medical care for those with complex health needs. Traditionally, the model has been used for children or young people who cannot live with their families or afford their own homes, people with chronic disabilities who may be adults or seniors, or people with dementia and related aged illnesses. Typically, there are no more than six residents, and there is at least one trained caregiver there 24 hours a day. In some early "model programs", a house manager, night manager, weekend activity coordinator, and four part-time skill teachers were reported. Originally, the term group home referred to homes of 8 to 16 individuals, which was a state-mandated size during deinstitutionalization. Residential nursing facilities, also included in this article, may be as large as 100 individuals in 2015, which is no longer the case in fields such as intellectual and developmental disabilities. Depending on the severity of the condition requiring one to need to live in a group home, some clients are able to attend day programs and most clients are able to live normal lifestyles.
People Incorporated is a non-profit organization in Western New York that provides a variety of services to seniors, families and individuals with developmental disabilities including residential, employment, community outreach, health care, and recreation programs.
The Arc of the United States is an organization serving people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The organization was founded in the 1950s by parents of people with developmental disabilities. Since then, the organization has established state chapters in 39 states, and 730 local chapters in states across the country. The Arc of the United States is based in Washington, D.C.
Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability and mental retardation, is a generalized neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant impairment in intellectual and adaptive functioning that is first apparent during childhood. Children with intellectual disabilities typically have an intelligence quotient (IQ) below 70 and deficits in at least two adaptive behaviors that affect everyday, general living. According to the DSM-5, intellectual functions include reasoning, problem solving, planning, abstract thinking, judgment, academic learning, and learning from experience. Deficits in these functions must be confirmed by clinical evaluation and individualized standard IQ testing. On the other hand, adaptive behaviors include the social, developmental, and practical skills people learn to perform tasks in their everyday lives. Deficits in adaptive functioning often compromises an individual's independence and ability to meet their social responsibility.
The Arc New York is the largest organization serving people with developmental disabilities. A non-profit, The Arc New York serves over 60,000 people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities through its 55 chapters in New York state. The Arc New York is an affiliated member of Arc of the United States.
The Barbados Association for Children With Intellectual Challenges, formerly the Barbados Association for Mentally Retarded Children, is a charitable organization in Barbados for children and adults with intellectual disability. It was founded in 1964. The Association was incorporated by an Act of the Barbados Parliament, Barbados Association for Mentally Retarded Children Act, 1969–15, which was subsequently amended to change the association's name. It is a member of the Barbados Council for the Disabled. The body is financed partly by the government. The association operates the Challenor Creative Arts & Training Centre.
The Family Movement, also known in the past as the Parent Movement, is an arm of the disability rights movement, a larger social movement. The Family Movement advocates for the economic and social rights of family members with a disability. Key elements include: social inclusion; active participation; a life of meaning; safety; economic security; accessibility and self-determination. The family movement has been critical in closing institutions and other segregated facilities; promoting inclusive education; reforming adult guardianship to the current supported decision-making; increasing access to health care; developing real jobs; fighting stereotypes and reducing discrimination.
Gunnar Dybwad (1909–2001) was an American professor and advocate for the rights of people with disabilities, particularly developmental disabilities. He is best known for his support for the social model of disability, reframing disability accommodations as a matter of civil rights, not medical treatment. The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities gives out the Dybwad Humanitarian Award annually in his honor.
Inclusion Canada, formerly the Canadian Association for Community Living, is a non-profit organization founded in 1958 to assist in training and socialization of people with intellectual disabilities, then known as Mental Retardation.
Hall v. Florida, 572 U.S. 701 (2014), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that a bright-line IQ threshold requirement for determining whether someone has an intellectual disability is unconstitutional in deciding whether they are eligible for the death penalty.
Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens (PARC) v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 334 F. Supp. 1257, was a case where the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was sued by the Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Citizens (PARC), now The Arc of Pennsylvania, over a law that gave public schools the authority to deny a free education to children who had reached the age of 8, yet had not reached the mental age of 5. The law had also been used by the state in multiple occasions to deny free public education to children who had a hard time integrating into classroom environments and schools. This was the first major legal case to provide equality to students with disabilities. The case was filed and settled by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and lasted between 1971 and 1972. The case was over seen by three judges, Circuit Judge Adams, and two District Judges, Masterson and Broderick. The language used during this case is outdated to modern times; therefore, the use of the word "mentally retarded" refers to any intellectual disability.
Singapore does not have a formal definition of disability. Singapore signed on to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2013 and coordinates the Enabling Masterplan with both government and non governmental organisations.
J. Clifford MacDonald was an American businessman and philanthropist. MacDonald was owner of a printing company and served as president of the Arc of the United States, then named the National Association for Retarded Children. While working with people with disabilities, MacDonald started several Floridan establishments and worked with the Hillsborough County Association for the Blind as their president from 1938 to 1954. Apart from disabilities, MacDonald worked in journalism with the New York Daily News, Tampa Tribune, St. Petersburg Times and the St. Petersburg Independent during the 1920s. MacDonald was named a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963 and died before his award ceremony that year.
