Deficient health and social services for elderly people with learning disabilities.
Elderly clients with ID are systematically under-served—audit your caseload for anyone over 65 and schedule missing services now.
01Research in Context
What this study did
A 1997 UK survey counted health and social services used by 65-plus adults with learning disabilities. The team compared service levels with those given to younger adults with the same diagnosis. They also checked if extra mental-health needs changed the picture.
What they found
Older adults got far fewer doctor visits, therapy hours, and home help than younger clients. The gap stayed even when the seniors had psychiatric disorders. In short, age, not need, predicted service level.
How this fits with other research
Magaña et al. (2008) extends the story. They found older Latina and Black American moms of kids with developmental disabilities also face poor access. The barrier shifted from age alone to age plus ethnicity plus caregiver role.
Van Herwegen et al. (2018) broadens the lens. Parents of autistic students reported the worst access to specialists. Together the three surveys show under-service hits both elderly clients and their caregivers, across ID and ASD diagnoses.
Critchfield et al. (2003) adds a health twist. Institutionalized adults with Down syndrome had more infections and lower immunity than community peers. The 1997 paper flags missing services; the 2003 paper shows what can happen when those gaps linger.
Why it matters
Run a five-minute age scan of your caseload today. Anyone 65 or over moves to the top of your advocacy list. Schedule missing dental, mental-health, and social-work reviews this week. Pair the audit with caregiver checks—Magaña et al. (2008) reminds us mom may need a referral too.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Elderly people with learning disabilities have greater psychiatric morbidity than younger individuals, but a previous report has suggested that the majority of the former do not receive treatment. All people with learning disabilities aged 65 years and over living in Leicestershire, England (n = 134), and a random sample of adults with learning disabilities aged between 20 and 64 years (n = 73) were assessed for psychiatric disorders and service use. Elderly people received less day care, less respite care and were less likely to have a social worker and receive input from most health services than the younger group. Chiropody was an exception. Those receiving psychiatric services did so through the learning disabilities specialist services only. Those with an additional psychiatric disorder were more likely to receive services, but results still favoured the younger group. Services were better accessed by those living in residential care. Failure to access services may relate to carers attitudes and beliefs: in learning disability settings, morbidity was attributed to 'it's just old age; in the elderly settings, morbidity was attributed to 'it's because s/he has learning disabilities'. The specialist health and social services need to take the lead in health promotion and education.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 1997 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.1997.tb00717.x