Going through the menopause: perceptions and experiences of women with intellectual disability

This article explores a heretofore neglected topic: the perceptions, experiences and support needs of women with intellectual disability as they go through the menopause. Findings are presented from semi-structured interviews with 15 women with mild to moderate intellectual disability aged 43-65 years. Levels of knowledge about what the menopause was, when it happened, and whether it happened to all women, were found to be generally low. More significantly, the majority of the women did not understand the significance of the menopause on a woman's reproductive capacity. The women's experiences of change and transition were on a predominantly physical level, with some emotional effects, but little or no psychological and social impact noted. The findings about menopausal changes are presented in a broader context of age-related issues and the impact of the women having relatively low levels of choice and autonomy is explored.