Special Olympics-commissioned survey Half of people in Ireland believe individuals with intellectual disabilities receive the same quality of healthcare as the rest of the population, a Special Olympics-commissioned survey shows.
Of the other half, 28 per cent say health provision for people with intellectual disabilities is worse, and 22 per cent say it is better.
Of the nine countries surveyed, only the majority of citizens in Ireland, the US and Germany believed health provision for people with disabilities is the same as care received by those without such disabilities.
In Brazil and Russia, 54 per cent believed it was worse, while in China, Nigeria and Japan at least 30 per cent of people said healthcare was worse.
The Irish survey was conducted in both the North and the South, and the findings are presented for the island.
The study shows that most people in Ireland, in common with the public worldwide, perceive individuals with intellectual disabilities as more capable of engaging in simple activities such as sustaining friendships, engaging in simple conversation and washing and dressing.
They saw such people as less capable of activities such as understanding a national news event or handling emergencies.
Some 53 per cent of people in Ireland said individuals with intellectual disabilities were capable of getting married, compared to a high of 75 per cent in Germany, 73 per cent in the US and a low of 4 per cent in Egypt.
Half of the Irish respondents said people with intellectual disabilities could handle money, 23 per cent said they could raise children and 20 per cent said they could handle emergencies.
In many countries most people expected that including individuals with intellectual disabilities in the workplace and schools would create more accidents, cause discipline problems in classrooms, lower productivity and negatively effect the learning of other students.
People in Ireland were on the lower end of the scale in expecting that students with intellectual disabilities would cause discipline problems in the classroom. A total of 39 per cent of Irish people said this was likely or very likely, compared to the lowest of 31 per cent in the US and the highest of 93 per cent in Egypt. Some 31 per cent of Irish people said it was likely or very likely that people with intellectual disabilities would create workplace accidents.
Dr Gary Siperstein, of the University of Massachusetts in Boston, who led the study, said the findings about the perceived abilities of people with intellectual disabilities indicated a tendency to see them as all having severe or profound disabilities. The reality is that the vast majority have only mild intellectual disabilities.
"Ireland, along with several other westernised countries, does have a more positive perception of individuals with mental retardation in terms of what they are capable of.
"However, here, along with in other countries, the public still believes in separate settings for people with mental retardation in terms of schools and work."
This trend towards separate educational and work provision for people with intellectual disabilities was widespread. Some 44 per cent of people in Ireland said individuals with intellectual disabilities should work in dedicated workshops, while 30 per cent said they should do integrated unskilled jobs in the normal workplace, and 25 per cent said integrated skilled jobs.
The vast majority of people worldwide said children with intellectual abilities should be educated in special schools. Some 71 per cent in Ireland favoured special schools, while 29 per cent said integrated schools were preferable.