"This special edition aims to address some of the complexities and challenges faced in mainstream mental health services in three ways. First, to highlight the specific needs of people with intellectual disabilities and mental health problems. Second, to promote the importance of interdisciplinary working and learning in relation to mental wellbeing and intellectual disability, showcasing innovative approaches to care and finally, to offer a voice to specialists from intellectual disability practice and research to foster practical and conceptual thinking in relation to this group of service users"
There is a freely accessible editorial and there are six papers:
People with intellectual disabilities accessing mainstream mental health services: some facts, features and professional considerations
Psychiatry and intellectual disabilities: navigating complexity and context
Development and dissemination of a core competency framework
Mental health staff views on improving burnout and mental toughness
Using wordless books to support clinical consultations
Actors with intellectual disabilities in mental health simulation training
Special issue: Improving access to healthcare. The aim of this special issue is to stimulate discussion and new research on the health and health care of people with autism spectrum disorder. In a co-productive approach, we give people on the autism spectrum, their families and health care providers a voice to open an exchange between professionals and people with lived experience. The guest editorial is freely accessible. There are six papers:
Autism and healthcare
Quality of health and health services in people with fragile X syndrome: perspective of their parents
Transition tools and access to adult primary care
Systemic-attachment formulation for families of children with autism
An online ASD learning module for pediatric health care professionals
Pain in Rett syndrome: peculiarities in pain processing and expression, liability to pain causing disorders and diseases, and specific aspects of pain assessment
Collection of data about disability in a census or survey context is influenced by the cultural context, particularly the beliefs and practices within the communities where the data are collected. Attitudes toward individuals with disability will influence what questions are asked, how such questions are framed, and how individuals in the community will respond to these questions. This article examines how culturally defined concepts of disability influence the development of questions on the topic, as well as helps determine who asks the questions and who answers the questions. These issues in turn influence how much data are collected and how accurate the data are. It also examines how ethnic diversity and poverty contribute to these questions. Recommendations for attention to these issues are made by census and survey.
"This article identifies five challenges for those in leadership roles: developing a deep sense of what the concept ‘social inclusion’ really means; confronting the values questions; developing consciousness of what the community is taught through the actions of services; transforming the role of services and workers; and the use of theory-based knowledge. The article also explores the attributes of those in leadership roles, so that they are more equipped to respond to these challenges: ethical and moral leadership; a combination of conceptual clarity, insight, knowledge and wisdom; authentic relationships with people with disabilities and family members; an appreciation of history; and a faith and efforts in things that are likely to bring dividends"
The International Journal of Leadership in Public Services , Vol 6 supplement