To provide an overview of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists’ (RANZCP) work to improve support for those with an intellectual or developmental disability.

People with intellectual disability experience significantly higher rates of physical and mental health conditions in comparison to the general population. However, there can be multiple barriers to effective health care including, but not limited to, stigma and discrimination, the training of health professionals and a failure to consider the specific needs of people with intellectual disability in health and disability policy leading to deficits in funding to support generic services or develop specialist service models.

In Australia, a Disability Royal Commission was established in 2019 in response to community concern about reports of violence against, and the neglect, abuse and exploitation of, people with disability. The RANZCP has provided information to the Royal Commission and appeared at a public hearing focused on the education and training of health professionals in relation to people with cognitive disability. In 2022, the RANZCP published new position statements on autism and intellectual disability to address the unmet needs faced by people with autism and intellectual disability and provide a foundation for future College advocacy for improving resourcing and mental health support for these groups.

The new RANZCP position statements on autism and intellectual disability make a number of systemic recommendations to address the mental health needs of autistic people and intellectual disability including:

• • providing adequate funding to ensure appropriate policy implementation

• • educating and training health providers in the mental health needs of autistic people and people with intellectual disability

• • including the voices of autistic people to support a more inclusive approach to policy development and service design

• • collecting data on the needs of people with intellectual disability who are living with mental health conditions to support better service planning and better health outcomes.

• • In response to recommendations from the Disability Royal Commission, the RANZCP is also revising its training syllabus to include additional requirements for cognitive disability and has reviewed its CPD program to determine whether CPD for the provision of health care to people with intellectual disability should be enhanced.

The RANZCP is committed to addressing the unmet mental health needs and significant challenges of people with autism and intellectual disability and advocating for improving resourcing and mental health support for these groups.