Lifelong Intellectual Disability

New Zealand Dementia Foundation > Resource Hub > Intellectual Disability
Intellectual Disability and Dementia.

Alzheimer’s New Zealand New Zealand

People with intellectual disability (ID) are probably more likely to develop dementia than others. However, there is a particularly strong link between Down syndrome and Alzheimers Disease. This fact sheet includes recognising dementia in people with intellectual disability and getting a diagnosis.

Hidden in Plain Sight: Dementia and Learning Disability

Mental Health Foundation (UK)

This report highlights how people with learning disabilities have become invisible in dementia policy.

A person typing on a laptop at a café table with coffee and a notebook.
International Summit on Intellectual Disability and Dementia


In October 2016, an International Summit on Intellectual Disability and Dementia was held in Glasgow, Scotland, where pre-recorded experiences of people with intellectual disabilities were shared. A series of nine practice and policy consensus statements was developed

Caregiving, Intellectual Disability, and Dementia: Report of the Summit Workgroup on Caregiving and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.

Caregiving, Intellectual Disability, and Dementia: Report of the Summit Workgroup on Caregiving and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 2017 (US)

A specially commissioned working group produced a report on caregiving, intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs), and dementia for the National Institutes of Health–located National Research Summit on Care, Services, and Supports for Persons with Dementia and Their Caregivers. The report is summarised in this article in the journal Alzheimer’s and Dementia: Translational Research and Clinical Interventions.

Dementia and People With Intellectual Disabilities: Guidance on the Assessment, Diagnosis, Interventions and Support of People With Intellectual Disabilities Who Develop Dementia.

The British Psychological Society, 2015 (UK)

To help as many health and care organisations as possible develop more supportive designs for people with dementia, the King’s Fund has developed a suite of dementia-friendly assessment tools for evaluating the physical environment.