A Forgotten Population: Seniors with Developmental Disabilities

According to Heller and Factor (Wood & Jackson, cited in 2003), "Elderly people diagnosed with mental retardation or developmental disorder over 60 years of age are expected to reach 1,065,000 by 2030." In fact, "In the past 30 years, the average life expectancy of mentally handicapped people was longer than the average life expectancy of ordinary people" (Bigby, 2010). Doka and Lavin (2003) reported that progress in health care and removal of facilities contributed to an increase in the average life expectancy of adults with developmental disabilities.

In disabled studies, we report that the proportion of disorders affecting lactating children is higher than that of the general population. Compared with 10% of the general population, there is a developmental disorder of 20% to 60% (National Disability Council, 2008). Disabled children are more vulnerable to abuse than children without disabilities (Brown & Schormans, 2003; Brown & Schormans, 2004; Mandell, Walrath, Mateuffel, & Pinto-Martin, 2005; National Council on Disability, 2008). However, the lack of documentation on children's disability when conducting child abuse research may mask the actual prevalence of child abuse (Algood, Hong, Gourdine, & Williams, 2011). In Manitoba, one in three children was treated in 2004 (Fuchs et al., 2005). More than half of children have multiple types of obstacles

There are various kinds of developmental disorders. Among many developmental disorders are mental retardation, Down's syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, hearing and vision disorders, and learning disabilities. We explore many kinds of developmental disorders. Mental retardation is often referred to as mental retardation, but this term is no longer used because it is aggressive (Leahy, Fuzy & Grafe, 2013). To be mentally retarded means that the person's cognitive ability is lower than the average person's age. Mentally handicapped persons may range from mild to severe mental retardation (CDC, 2015 d).