Young people with mild intellectual disabilities need extra support in education

People with a mild intellectual disability (MID) often encounter problems at school or work because their disability is not recognized or acknowledged by those around them. It is not always clear that someone has a mild intellectual disability. This can create the impression that someone is unwilling, when in fact the issue is more a matter of inability. Timely identification and guidance at school, awareness among employers, and support from those around them can reduce the problems people with a MID face when participating in society.

More than half of young people with a MID cannot participate in education without additional support. This proportion is many times higher than the proportion of young people without a MID who have difficulty keeping up in education (5%). Young people with a MID have more difficulty remembering new things or understanding abstract concepts, and they more often have physical and mental health problems than young people without a disability. They more often have problems controlling their impulses and seeing the consequences of their behavior for others. This clumsiness in social situations can lead to frustration and conflicts with classmates.

By identifying in good time that a student has a MID and providing the right guidance in the classroom, students with a MID can keep up better. A preventive approach in all living environments, in which parents and schools work together, is more successful than an isolated approach focused on one characteristic of the young person or their living situation. For example, social skills training for the student will be more successful if it is combined with a parenting course for the parents and coaching for teachers on how to encourage socially desirable behavior among students with a MID.

These problems also affect the workplace. Approximately 40% to 55% of adults with a MID are active in the labor market, while seven out of ten people without health limitations work. When people with a MID want to work, employers often do not realize that this group has difficulty understanding and carrying out tasks. If things do not go as they should at work, this is not due to unwillingness among people with a MID, but to a lack of ability. In general, employers also have a negative view of people with a MID because expectations regarding the employability of this group of workers are low. Employers often do not consider them suitable candidates: unfamiliarity breeds dislike.

By making employers and organizations that support people in finding work aware of the problems faced by people with a MID, including through information campaigns and training, and by subsequently providing good support at work, for example through coaches or colleagues, people with a MID can participate there as well.

The SCP publication More Participation provides insight into the problems people with a MID face at school or work. This knowledge helps prevent problems from escalating, although it is also important to remain alert to the disadvantages of premature stigmatization. In addition, this knowledge and these insights can be used to remove obstacles to participation for people with a MID at an early stage, such as preventing school dropouts and improving the transition from school to work. This is important not only for people with a MID because of their self-esteem, but also for society as a whole, because it enables more people to participate. This may reduce potential healthcare costs and costs related to debt problems and homelessness.

Consequences of the coronavirus crisis

It is still difficult to say exactly what the consequences will be for people with a MID, but the expectation is that the restrictions in education, particularly the loss of practical subjects, will adversely affect their position in the labor market, which is already under pressure because of the crisis. People with a MID mainly work at the lower end of the labor market; this is often low-paid and insecure work. The first studies by the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis and the Netherlands Institute for Social Research into the consequences of the coronavirus crisis show that people at the lower end of the labor market are being hit hard.

Download the publication ‘More Participation’ here.