Searching in Bewilderment: Bereavement in the Lives of People with Intellectual Disability

Abstract

Bereavement involves dealing with the loss of a loved one through death and it takes a heavy emotional toll on a person’s life, if this anguish strikes those with weak cognitive comprehension. People with Intellectual disability (ID) already face a lot of unpredictable circumstances in their daily lives, making the death of a loved one an extra burden that they may not be equipped to deal with emotionally. This phenomenon might get complicated if it occurs in the life of a person with ID. The present work focuses on exploration of grieving manifestation through qualitative study by conduction of semi structured interviews with bereaved youngsters having ID. Participants showed concepts of cessation, finality, and universality related to death but the in-depth understanding is lacking. The role of religious introjections is important in understanding and managing grief reactions in the mentioned population. Besides limited comprehension of death and dying, these sufferers need our help to understand and manage the painful feelings which are harder to express verbally in comparison with the general population. The help can be done through grief support model based on four domains of education, participation, facilitation and intervention.