Ethnicity and intellectual disability

Abstract

Ethnicity is a key theme in our world today. All human beings have an ethnic identity and it does not relate to just people from different nationalities, cultures or religions. The focus of this chapter is on people with learning disabilities (LD) from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities as they face inequalities, discrimination and marginalisation. This chapter will highlight some of the key issues and themes in health and social care of people with learning disabilities from minority ethnic communities. These include:  Definitions of ethnicity, culture and race  Prevalence of learning disability in minority ethnic communities  Religion and belief systems and the perception of learning disability  Children and Young people perspectives  Family carer perspectives  Cultural sensitivity, cultural reciprocity and cultural competence