Better trained health workers

Doctors and other health workers get very little training in working with people with intellectual disability. So, they make mistakes.

Informed health care decisions

People with intellectual disability have the right to make their own health decisions, with support from families or advocates if needed. But there is not enough accessible information about health problems and services. Health workers need to be taught inclusive ways to communicate.

Better dental health

People with intellectual disability often have poor dental health. They need better public dental services and from private dentists.

Establishing the National Centre of Excellence

The National Centre is vital to making the Roadmap happen. It will lead research and bring together quality information for people with disability, families and health professionals.

Better health assessments

Annual GP health assessments lead to better prevention and diagnosis of health conditions. Not nearly enough people get assessments. We need all GPs to do them and do them well.

Better coordination of services

Health services need to work together, not individually, with the person who has intellectual disability. Disability services need to support good health, and they need to work together with health services.

Making reasonable adjustments

People with intellectual disability need doctors to take more time with them and make reasonable adjustments, like a quiet space in a busy emergency department.

Better research and data

Research and collection of information about how the health system is working shows us what is wrong and how to fix it. We need much more research and data so we can get things right.

Planning for emergencies and pandemics

We need to learn from the COVID pandemic to get it right for people with intellectual disability in future health crises.

Better supported health workers

Doctors and other health workers often struggle to diagnose and treat people with intellectual disability. They need information on good practice and support from experts to get it right.