“Disability is a matter of perception. If you can do just one thing well, you’re needed by someone.” - Martina Navratilova.

Introduction

The world asks three things of the average human when the time comes to prove their cognitive skill in a certain situation: Can they communicate? Can they learn? And can they retain information? The answers to these three questions let you know whether a person has the basic skills needed to complete necessary daily tasks like thinking, learning, reading, remembering, speaking, listening and paying attention.

Now, on the other side, a person may find it difficult to excel at these things - they may find it difficult to communicate with people, learn from people or keep information in their memories for a long time. Do we say those people are not as capable as their counterparts? The guys and gals with Nobel Peace Prizes written clearly in their futures due to how great their cognitive skills are?

Let’s find out.

What is an Intellectual disability?

The common definition of an intellectual disability always circles back to inability which is the absence of capacity, energy or even will to do a particular thing. But what makes intellectual disability unique is it’s not entirely physical, it’s mind-focused as well. Kind of a double whammy, isn’t it?

Well, however, you may choose to define it, an intellectual disability is present in a person when they’ve got two things to deal with: first is an IQ below 70 (which is below the median IQ of 100), and second, significant difficulty in executing daily tasks like taking care of themselves or communicating with people, by themselves.

When a person has an intellectual disability, they face a range of developmental conditions that hinder their cognitive and adaptive functioning, impacting the lives of both the individual and their families. They may process information more slowly compared to the average person, they may find it difficult to communicate their thoughts and may also need help understanding popular human living concepts like money and time.

Currently, between 1 to 3% of the world’s population has an intellectual disability to conquer. That’s as many as 200 million people. When we then choose to look more into low-income countries, we find that intellectual disabilities are more common in those places, with about 16.41 people in every thousand dealing with a disability. This, of course, makes life more difficult for the people living in these territories who may or may not have access to the best possible care others may have in developed countries.

Causes of Intellectual disabilities

Intellectual disabilities can be caused by different factors like genetic mutations passed from generation to generation, chromosome abnormalities, exposure to certain substances like alcohol while a fetus is in the womb, infections during pregnancy due to environmental factors, problems during childbirth, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), among others. 

These different factors, alongside the other possible elements that can cause intellectual disability in a person, are known for contributing to certain medical and mental health conditions doctors usually discover in people with intellectual disabilities. These health conditions can also occur in an individual without an intellectual disability and they include:

1. Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
2. Autism spectrum disorder
3. Impulse control disorders
4. Mood disorders like anxiety disorders and depression
5. Movement disorders

These health conditions are usually tell-tale signs of intellectual disability, at least before a proper medical diagnosis by a healthcare provider takes place confirming it.

Now, onto the business of this post, let’s take a look at the different types of intellectual disabilities known to man so far.

Types of Intellectual disabilities

1. Fragile X Syndrome

The first type of Intellectual disability we’ll be looking at, is the Fragile X Syndrome.

The Fragile X Syndrome is the most popular cause of intellectual disabilities worldwide. It is well known because it is genetic in nature. It is a genetic condition caused by a mutation in the X chromosome that passes on from generation to generation.

A person with Fragile X Syndrome usually experiences different difficulties with physical, developmental, behavioral and emotional activity; however, the level of difficulty one person faces may be different from another.

Tell-tale signs of Fragile X Syndrome in a person include a delay in their intellectual development, communication issues, severe anxiety, ADHD, difficulty with social interactions, difficulty processing and keeping memories and poor muscle coordination, particularly with their hands and eyes. 

The Fragile X Syndrome usually affects more boys than girls - with around 1 in 3,600 boys affected compared to 1 in 4,000 - 6,000 girls.

2. Down Syndrome

Contrary to what many people think, Down Syndrome actually isn’t a disease or illness, it’s simply a mere genetic disorder that happens in someone born with a full, or partial extra copy of chromosome 21 in their DNA. Here’s the simplified point on that: Chromosome 21 is the smallest human chromosome there is, and it’s one of the 23 pairs of chromosomes humans have. A person having two copies of chromosome 21 is the norm but those with three copies of chromosome 21 (trisomy 21) usually have Down Syndrome.

So Down Syndrome isn’t a sickness, it’s rather the most common genetic chromosomal disorder and cause of intellectual disabilities in children. People born with Down Syndrome worldwide measure between 1 in 1000 to 1 in 1,100 live births. Each year also, approximately 3,000 to 5,000 children are born with Down Syndrome - so it’s pretty common, more common than you’d think.

Amongst all the types of intellectual disabilities, it’s pretty easy to spot someone with Down Syndrome because the symptoms range between physical and developmental effects as well as beyond-normal incidences of respiratory and heart conditions.

A person with Down Syndrome usually has a short stature, a rounded face, and a slight upward slant of the eyes. Beyond these physical features, they may also have some level of learning disabilities but these differ from one person to another.

3. Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS)

Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), unlike its counterparts, is pretty rare. It is a rare genetic disorder you find in 1 out of 10,000 - 20,000 people. The disorder itself is also quite complex in its effects and treatment and is mainly caused when there’s an abnormality in a person’s chromosome 15.

The disorder comes with a common symptom of constant and insatiable hunger in whoever has it. This symptom typically shows its head when the person is say, two years of age. They’ll find that no matter how much they eat, they don’t feel full and they need to eat more. Why this happens is because their brain (particularly their hypothalamus) doesn’t tell them when they are full or that they are full, so these people forever feel hungry. Pretty terrible.

Besides that, other symptoms of PWS can vary from person to person but some common ones include a poor muscle tone and a short stature. They may also have a certain level of intellectual disability that makes them find language, problem-solving and maths difficult.

In other cases, a person born with PWS may be easily identified by a healthcare provider because of their distinct physical features which could include almond-shaped eyes, a narrowing of the head, a thin upper lip, light skin and hair, and a turned-down mouth.

4. Huntington’s Disease

Huntington’s disease is a much different ballgame compared to the other types of intellectual disabilities we’ve looked at. This is because the effects of this disease usually become noticeable in persons aged between 30 and 50 years, although there is still a juvenile form of the disease that can come about during childhood or adolescence.

Basically, Hunington’s disease is a hereditary neurological disease that usually leaves whoever has it, unable to take care of themselves after a prolonged period of time. Healthcare providers also say that death typically occurs as one of the final symptoms between 10 to 30 years after diagnosis.

The symptoms of Hunington’s disease usually include dementia, involuntary movements, difficulty learning new things or making decisions, irritability and mood swings, trouble communicating, weight loss, et cetera. The basic thing is, a person with Huntington’s disease eventually always requires assistance from caregivers to handle their daily tasks.

5. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD)

Lastly, we look at FASD. This is a straightforward type of intellectual disability caused when an unborn fetus is exposed to alcohol.

You’ve probably seen real-life situations or let’s say, movie scenes where a pregnant woman gets offered a beer or a glass of wine and she turns it down on the basis that “it’ll affect the baby”. I for one, always wondered how the alcohol would affect the baby and now you have the answer to that age-old question. It’s to protect the baby’s developing cognitive organs.

See, when a pregnant woman consumes alcohol, it quickly goes into her bloodstream and every other part of her body. In the process of this, the alcohol would cross the placenta from her bloodstream into the baby’s, exposing the developing fetus to the same level of vodka, brandy, or rum concentrations the mother, with a full-grown adult’s organs, has to handle.

With that, the child inevitably suffers certain physical and intellectual symptoms like distinctive facial features, joint deformities, damage to their organs such as the heart and kidneys, slow physical growth, difficulties in learning and keeping information, behavioral problems, and poor social skills.

This is the reason why the World Health Organization recommends that expectant mothers, or those planning on conceiving, stay away from alcohol completely.

Diagnosis and Support

Children and other persons with intellectual disabilities may require tailored support to foster their growth, often involving specialized educational programs, speech therapy, and psychological counselling. So, suppose you’ve seen any indications that your child, teenager, or an adult you know may have an intellectual disability, be sure to discuss the matter with their healthcare provider first. Tests will be conducted to evaluate your person’s intellectual and adaptive functioning, alongside the severity of the disability they may have if they indeed have it.

And if you discover that someone close to you or someone you know does have an intellectual disability, you can support them in the following simple ways:

1. Encourage them to be responsible and independent from time to time by giving them self-care tasks—as much as they can handle—and guiding them through them.
2. Adaptive skills, like social interaction, self-care, and problem-solving, are crucial for daily living so expose them to social activities in your community like sports, birthday parties, heading out to see a movie, etc so they can build their social skills and also have fun.
3. Do not speak down to them or treat their disability like a scar. They’re not disabled, they’re persons with disabilities. Joke with them, tease them, challenge them, treat them with respect.
4. Do not let them get away with bad behavior. Draw boundaries where you need to - the same way you would for a person without intellectual disabilities.

By addressing these unique needs, you, caregivers and educators will be able to help children and other persons with intellectual disabilities develop essential life skills and thrive within their communities.

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