Advances in health care for people with intellectual disabilities (ID) that have resulted in increased longevity also force health care providers, researchers, and policymakers to question the adequacy of chronic disease management for the growing number of middle aged and elderly persons in this population. We report on sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with obesity, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and diabetes mellitus in an ethnically/racially diverse sample of people with ID in New York City. Administrative and chart review data were collected from a community-based specialty medical practice for people with intellectual disabilities. Adult subjects were included if they had an intellectual disability, lived in the community either independently or with relatives, received all of their planned, outpatient health care services though this practice, and had a primary care visit within the study period. One hundred twenty-six (43.0%) persons were obese, 58 (19.9%) had hypertension, 77 (26.5%) had hypercholesterolemia, and 13 (4.5%) had diabetes mellitus. Age, gender, and BMI (for the latter three conditions) were the most consistent risk factors. Intellectual functioning and behavioral problems were not associated with greater odds of these conditions. This study provides crucial information for improving community-based primary care for people with intellectual disabilities. Specifically, these findings highlight the importance of constructing innovative strategies to mitigate chronic disease risk factors in this population that involve community-based case management service providers who can help adults with ID and their families adopt needed lifestyle and behavior changes.

Social inclusion is often used interchangeably with the terms social cohesion, social integration and social participation, positioning social exclusion as the opposite. The latter is a contested term that refers to a wide range of phenomena and processes related to poverty and deprivation, but it is also used in relation to marginalised people and places. This book consists of two parts: the first aims to review the domestic and international historical roots and the conceptual base of disability, as well as the expressions of social exclusion of people with disabilities that interfere in their efforts to exercise their rights in society. It offers a comprehensive review of social and legal approaches to social exclusion and inclusion. The second part introduces and analyses domestic and international social and legal strategies to promote social inclusion for people with disabilities.

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Three-hundred-forty-one executives responsible for hiring decisions in Fortune 500 industrial and service corporations returned a mail questionnaire measuring their attitudes toward persons with severe disabilities. Attitudes were favorable to the employability of persons with severe disabilities both in terms of its advantages for the individual with a disability and the lack of disadvantages for others in the work setting. Attitudes were more favorable in industrial than service corporations in the area of lack of disadvantages for others in the work setting. These attitudes co-existed with general attitudes toward persons with disabilities that approximated those held by other population groups and are also similar in industrial and service corporations. Significant subgroup differences in attitudes existed. Executives with prior contact with persons with disabilities had more favorable attitudes in both industrial and service corporations. This was a trend in service corporations and a highly significant difference among the industrial corporations. Thus, the ability of contact variables to predict attitudes was more pronounced in the industrial than in the service corporations.