Health Promotion and People with Intellectual Disability

Abstract

Targeted health promotion programming is markedly relevant and urgently needed for people with intellectual disability to be able to live, work, learn, and recreate in communities and settings of their choice. This chapter provides an overview of the determinants of health and health promotion for people with intellectual disability. Additionally, this chapter covers an ecological framework to engage people with intellectual disability and their supports in health promotion activities. Examples of successful health promotion initiatives are presented, along with exploration of future directions for promoting health among people with intellectual disability and their supports. Lastly, the chapter discusses the need to develop, test, and implement strategies that operationalize the three core strategies of the Ottawa Charter, “advocate, enable, and mediate,” in order to move health promotion beyond the health care sector for people with intellectual disability.