Individuals with Developmental Disability
Over the past years, developmental disability has been of great concern among social health practitioners and professionals. Development disabilities consist of varied conditions due to impairment in an individual’s behavior, learning, and language. These conditions commence during the developmental period of an individual with mental health challenges and may affect their daily functioning and usually last throughout their lifetime. Besides, developmental disabilities such as mental health challenges are long-term and severe conditions that may not have short-term medical remedies or cures. These conditions may be physical or mental (Zablotsky et al., 2019). Developmental disabilities may also be both physical and mental. The problems usually are associated with social and economic consequences among the societal members whose close relatives suffer.
Prevalence of Individuals with Developmental Disabilities Cases
The prevalence of individuals with developmental disability disorder varies depending on several fundamental factors, and one notable factor is age. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, a leading federal research agency for developmental and mental disorders, the mental health menace is not heavenly distributed among the population members. People with intellectual disabilities are more prevalence to development disability disorder than any other member of the general population (Collins and Staples, 2017). The prevalence of young people with developmental disorders stands at 36%, while that of their old counterparts stands at 40%. Men are at high risk of suffering from mental challenges than women. This could be attributed to factors such as the disconnect of certain specific phenotypes, according to scientists. Therefore, the prevalence rate of mental problems in people with developmental disorders is not a constant factor.
Issues When Working with Individuals Affected by a Developmental Disability
Social work is one of the most challenging professions in the health sector. The mental health experts and workers face various issues as they handle individuals affected by a developmental disability. One of the major issues associated with individuals with developmental disabilities is behavioral changes and disturbances. A behavioral disturbance such as signs of distress and fear is one of the nightmares that social workers must handle in their daily encounters with the affected individuals (Burke et al., 2019). Anxiety disorder is another issue that must be considered when working with individuals affected by a developmental disability. Individuals affected by anxiety disorders have challenges with freely interacting with people hence avoid people and indicate signs of distress. Developmental disability hinders the free social life of the affected person and the people handling these individuals.
Personal disorganization and inactiveness is another challenge that social workers face when working with individuals affected by a developmental disability. Inattentiveness among individuals with a developmental disability results from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder which causes mobility from one place to another (Scherer and Kuper, 2019). About 20% of people with attention disorder have their challenge transferred to adulthood, while in others, it only remains a challenge during their childhood stages. Children with developmental disorders have many conduct problems; hence a social worker may face many hurdles in handling such children.
Most of the time, conduct problems result in bad behavior among the children, which may be undesirable among most people, including parents and social workers. The affected children may behave in a manner that poses a lot of danger to other children and denies people their basic rights and freedoms. Besides, certain societal norms may be affected by the conduct disorder among people with developmental disabilities, discouraging the social worker. Impairment of an individual and totals issues of inability to communicate among the people affected by the developmental disability may make it difficult for the social workers to communicate with the affected individuals. When dealing with individuals with developmental issues, social workers encounter varying issues.
Social workers must cope with the other issues when working with individuals affected by developmental disability include stereotypes about such diseases. Most people hold stereotypes such as developmental disability as a curse which is not true. These stereotypes make social workers difficult since they feel demoralized in whatever they are doing concerning the affected persons’ welfare ( Bryan et al.,2017). Stereotypes are silently killing both the affected persons and the social workers in the fight against developmental disability.
Issues Facing Direct and Group Interveners
Group and direct interveners like the social workers face several challenges while handling people with developmental disabilities. Some of the major issues include that only a handful of countries have an outlined guideline for addressing society’s neurodevelopment problems (Park-Lee et al., 2017). The rest of the countries have no such fundamental policies and strategies. Isolation challenges and child legislation-related issues have also made it difficult to implement proper care for children with developmental disabilities properly. Locational problems and the psychological effect of community intervention are also critical issues affecting individual and group interveners.
Direct and group interveners also face inadequate medical resources since the process requires medical resources, analysis of the severity of the problem, and alienation of actions with cultural requirements. The community also has challenges interacting with people suffering from developmental disabilities; hence the community must learn to do so, which consumes a lot of time (Olusanya et al.,2018). Besides, cultural limitations and school-based interventions get affected by the bullying of students and stigmatization. The community platform interventions need a special arrangement of the community, education, and the family structure’s empowerment that do not exist in most societies.
Impact of State Protection and Advocacy Systems
The state protection and advocacy systems such as the juvenile justice system play a fundamental role and greatly impact developmental disorders. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, protection and the advocacy systems such as the Juvenile justice systems play a fundamental role in protecting people with developmental and advocating strongly on their behalf. The Juvenile justice system advocates equal rights to education, ensuring that persons with developmental disorders can choose their preferred education setting. This ensures that discrimination cases have been fully eliminated and an equal right to educational access is granted.
The Juvenile justice systems are also fundamental in necessitating people’s independence with developmental disorders by advocating for independent decisions on their social life, such as where to live and who to live with. The Juvenile justice systems also ensure that persons with developmental disorders have a stable source of income and opportunities for expression, which are crucial for the survival of any human being. The Juvenile justice systems have also ensured a follow-up on the landmark cases in which persons with developmental disorders are involved. In the landmark cases, the states sought lawyers for the affected groups and ensure that their cases have been completed within the shortest time possible. Besides, they also ensure that the people living with developmental disorders have equal self-expression rights as their counterparts living a normal life. Therefore, it is important to note that the state plays a fundamental role in the well-being of individuals with a disability.
Federal and State Policies Contribution to Individuals with Developmental Disabilities
The management of persons with developmental disability cases requires different stakeholders, including the federal and state policy agencies. According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, each state must protect and advocate for the rights of people with a developmental disability. The major federal and state policy contributions include provision for administrative authority and the provision for legal authority, which are essential in developing and implementing the affected people’s welfare. This also ensures that people with developmental disabilities enjoy their rights and freedoms freely. These policies are essential in developing and managing procedures such as negotiations and litigation to manage people with developmental disabilities properly. The developmental disability act gives administrative authorities’ power to conduct investigations against people who are perceived to have violated the rights of persons with developmental disabilities. So, the federal and state policies are the heart of protection against any mistreatment that can result in persons with developmental disabilities.
The extent of Response of Developmental Disabilities Systems
The extent of the developmental disabilities systems’ response can be measured through the policy contribution on social justice for the mentally ill people. Enhancing the relationship between the mentally ill people and the police is one of the fundamental responses of the development and disabilities systems. Enhancing proper medical care is another fundamental response of the developmental disabilities systems (Giamos et al., 2017). This ensures that the affected people’s welfare has been catered for on a short and long-term basis. Supporting the youths through different activities such as sports to keep them in the right mind state. This prevents mental health challenges that are predominant when people are idle and cannot engage in any essential activity. Discrimination against mistreatment and advocacy for inclusivity is also the essential response of developmental disabilities systems.
Gaps Existing in Service Provision for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities
Several gaps still exist in the provision of essential; services to persons with developmental disorders. Most children and adults suffering from developmental disorders are denied equal educational access as those of normal people. People with the developmental disorder also faces challenges with accessing healthcare services within the healthcare facilities hence most of them end up with deteriorating health. Besides, there are also gaps in the social system where the affected individuals have been stigmatized for a long since most people do not want to interact with them. Environmental gaps have also been a serious gap in the management of individuals with developmental disabilities. Environmental factors sometimes can be too turbulent for persons with developmental disabilities to live in. Housing and communicational gaps are other challenges that need to be dealt with appropriately to ensure proper management of persons with a developmental disability.
Improvement and Change in Federal Actions and Policy
The state needs to enhance its policies and make several structural adjustments to improve the welfare of the persons living with mental health challenges. The state should conduct sensitization programs to reduce the discontent between the affected people and society’s normal members. Child development programs should also be developed through the use of different strategies and policies. The state should also ensure that there are equal employment opportunities among the people living with developmental disabilities. The other improvement that the state needs to undertake is maintaining a conducive environment to ensure both parties live in a low-risk environmental setting.
The state should also establish sound social policies and units to ensure that all the social needs of the persons with developmental disabilities are catered for appropriately. All these improvements and changes require collaboration between persons with developmental disabilities and the state and its agencies. The establishment of a welfare unit for the persons affected by developmental disabilities is also necessary to ensure a conducive living environment where everybody’s interest is fully catered for without discrimination. The state is the key player in ensuring that persons living with developmental disabilities are treated with dignity and respect without coercion from the people affected by the challenge. Persons suffering from developmental disabilities should also remain strong about seeking their rights and responsibilities from the state and other concerned parties within the government.
References
Burke,S.L,Wagner,E.,Marolda,H.,Quintana,J.E,&Maddux,M.(2019).Gap analysis of service needs for adults with neurodevelopment disorders. Journal of Intellectual Disabilities,23(1),97-116.
Giamos, D., Lee, A. Y. S., Suleiman, A., Stuart, H., & Chen, S. P. (2017). Understanding campus culture and student coping strategies for mental health issues in five Canadian colleges and universities. Canadian Journal of Higher Education/Revue canadienne d’enseignement supérieur, 47(3), 136-151.
Park-Lee, E., Lipari, R. N., Hedden, S. L., Kroutil, L. A., & Porter, J. D. (2017). Receipt of services for substance use and mental health issues among adults: Results from the 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. CBHSQ data review.
Bryan, B. T., Gayed, A., Milligan-Saville, J. S., Madan, I., Calvo, R. A., Glozier, N., & Harvey, S. B. (2018). Managers’ response to mental health issues among their staff. Occupational Medicine, 68(7), 464-468.
Zablotsky, B., Black, L. I., Maenner, M. J., Schieve, L. A., Danielson, M. L., Bitsko, R. H., … & Boyle, C. A. (2019). Prevalence and trends of developmental disabilities among children in the United States: 2009–2017. Pediatrics, 144(4).
Olusanya, B. O., Davis, A. C., Wertlieb, D., Boo, N. Y., Nair, M. K. C., Halpern, R., … & Kassebaum, N. J. (2018). Developmental disabilities among children younger than five years in 195 countries and territories, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. The Lancet Global Health, 6(10), e1100-e1121.
Scherer, N., Verhey, I., & Kuper, H. (2019). Depression and anxiety in parents of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PloS one, 14(7), e0219888.
Collins, K., & Staples, K. (2017). The role of physical activity in improving physical fitness in children with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Research in developmental disabilities, 69, 49-60.