This conference is a 3-day meeting of a Special Interest Research Group (SIRG) in profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD). It is a subgroup of a larger international association called IASSIDD. It involves carers of people with PIMD, professionals and researchers from areas such as psychology, nursing, speech and language therapy, education, technology and law. The group share the most current knowledge related to supporting people with PIMD. It supports innovation and quality improvement to optimise care. To foster growth in this area in Ireland, this meeting in April 2025 will be open to non-members.
In Ireland, there are 728 people with profound intellectual disability. Although a seemingly small group, they have complex support needs so they access many health and social care services. Caring for someone with PIMD at home can impact family wellbeing and financial circumstances. Meeting the needs of the person and their family necessitates international collaboration. This conference provides this opportunity.
The first day is for PhD/Masters students to present their work in a supportive, nurturing forum. Experienced researchers attend to provide guidance and advice. The roundtable meeting is held on days 2 and 3. It involves a keynote address, oral and poster presentations and roundtable discussions. Provisional topics for the roundtable include PPI research, family carer perspectives, inclusive research methods and knowledge translation. These topics are important to ensuring the voices of people needing support are heard in research and findings are used in practice/policy.
The conference outcomes will be shared in several ways. A book of abstracts and meeting report will be published open-access on the IASSIDD website with links shared via social media, the UCC website, newsletters, mailing lists. With presenter permission, presentations will be compiled in a single document. This document and a network contact list will be circulated to delegates afterwards.