Remit

The WPA Working Group on Intellectual Disability has been tasked with the following:

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1. To develop an overarching Global Framework for Action in Intellectual Disability (Intellectual Developmental Disorder) led by the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) Presidential Plan 2020-2023 Working Group on ID.

2. To identify promising and hands-on opportunities and community linkages to enhance the Visibility, Engagement and Leadership in Intellectual disabilities (Intellectual Developmental Disorders) with reference to WPA Presidential Action Plan salient features in public mental health, child and adolescent & youth mental health, co-morbidity, partnerships with other professional organizations and NGOs and capacity development.

3. To prioritize capacity development with regards Policies, Plans and Guidance on Interventions, Clinical & Research Training and Medical Education related to Intellectual Disability (Intellectual Developmental Disorder) within a Neurodevelopmental and Lifespan framework.

4. To organize activities that directly Prioritize the Work of the Membership in Low Resource Countries and to leverage resources regionally and globally in order to share useful knowledge and evidence-based information on ID—with specific focus on early diagnosis, person-centered care, locally-sourced support for persons with ID of all ages and their families.

5. To liaise with the other WPA Presidential Action Plan Working Groups, in particular with the WG on Autism Spectrum Disorder, to ensure that problems of classification and management are coordinated in order to enhance global impact in services, education and capacity development.

6. To collaborate with the World Health Organization Development Group (DG) in the preparation for evidence-based package of rehabilitation interventions (PRI) across service delivery platforms in low-resource countries.

Desired Outcomes

• Develop WPA WG ID sponsored impact activities including collaborative and inter-sectional symposia and workshops during WPA World Congress as well as Thematic and Regional Meetings.

• Develop synchronous webinars as well as asynchronous resources, i.e., recorded lectures and webinars and resource documents for the WPA membership.

• Develop regional impact activities specifically in low resource settings to help support development of in-country capacity and regional collaborations to leverage, share and disseminate relevant content

• Develop a position paper in priority setting and prepare a report on “IDD: A Global Framework for Action” emphasizing global inter-sector service, training and medical education goals

• Participate in collaborative articles in scientific journals as well as chapters in leading textbooks with specific reference to the dissemination of the evidence-based knowledge in building WPA Visibility, Engagement and Leadership goals in ID.

• Collaborate with national and international partner institutions including the WHO, UNICEF, NIH, Welcome Trust, Grand Challenges in Mental Health, and International Initiate for Disability Leadership (IIDL), among others, to seek opportunities for funding support to promote good clinical practice, research and training with relevance to low resource countries.

• Support governmental initiatives, plans, policies as they intersect with the WG ID remit, in capacity building in terms of services, training, research and medical education

• Develop collaborative initiatives with parallel WGs, as well WPA Scientific Sections, in the salient areas of public mental health, child and adolescent & youth mental health and comorbidity, and other areas identified by the President.

• Provide a selection of evidence-based interventions appropriate for service delivery platforms in low-resource regions as well as a listing of resource and training needs for development of proficiency related to implementation of selected requisite interventions.