Intellectual disability is a condition that limits intelligence and disrupts abilities necessary for living independently. Signs of this lifelong condition appear during childhood. Most people with this will need some degree of assistance throughout their lives. Support programs and educational offerings can help with managing symptoms and effects.
What is intellectual disability?
An intellectual disability is when limitations in your mental abilities affect intelligence, learning and everyday life skills. The effects of this can vary widely. Some people may experience minor effects but still live independent lives. Others may have severe effects and need lifelong assistance and support.
A common misconception is that intellectual disability is just a limitation on intelligence as assessed by a simple IQ test. An IQ test is only one piece of information. Some people have an average or above-average IQ but have trouble with other abilities necessary for everyday life.
Other people have lower-than-average IQs but also have skills and abilities that are strong enough that they don’t meet the criteria for intellectual disability, or they meet criteria for a milder form of intellectual disability than an IQ test indicates.
In the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition text revision (DSM-5-TR), the formal name for this condition is “intellectual developmental disorder.”
Although for many individuals, the exact cause of their intellectual disability is unknown, many cases of intellectual disability happen because of differences in brain development. Less commonly, they can develop because of brain damage from an illness, injury or other events when a person is younger than 18 years old.