Download an Easy Read version of this story.
With our lived experience team, we analysed the Disability Royal Commission’s approach and recommendations about preventive health care. The analysis has been published in an academic journal. Read the full article.
The research received input from a lived experience reference group and lived experience researchers Susan Adrian and Tahli Hind.
Susan says, "Health professionals need to understand people with intellectual disability and hear our questions."
Tahli says, "My health decisions will be easier if people with intellectual disability are provided with Easy Read documents when they see their health professionals."
We said it would have been good for the Commission to
- Invite more people with intellectual disability to share about their health care
- Meet with people in different places
- Meet with people who do not live in the city
- Use the word ‘intellectual’ disability instead of ‘cognitive’ disability, because people may not know cognitive disability includes intellectual disability.
We said that it was good that the Commission made recommendations to
- make health care services for people with disability
- improve teaching of health care workers and disability workers
- make health information easy to understand
- keep checking if health care gets better for people with disability.
We said that when people use the recommendations it is important to think about
- the needs of all people with intellectual disability
- all parts of preventive health care
- how we can all work together to make sure people with intellectual disability get good preventive health care.
Our response to the Commission's recommendations
The National Centre of Excellence in Intellectual Disability Health will soon release a response to all of the Commission’s health recommendations. Make sure you are signed up to our news to read our response.
Find out more
- The future of preventive health care for people with intellectual disabilities in Australia: an analysis of the Disability Royal Commission’s approach, findings and recommendations, Research and Practice in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, June 2024, https://doi.org/10.1080/23297018.2024.2362646
- Easy Read version of the research
- See our NHMRC project on preventive healthcare for people with intellectual disability
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