Turning Theory into Practice: Enacting Health Justice for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities

This article analyzes health justice for adults with intellectual disabilities in developed nations. It integrates insights of political philosophy, international covenants, and empirical data from the health sciences. First, it specifies what health justice for disabled adults requires: adequate and equitable habilitation into health. Second, it describes, and third, explains, how the inadequate and inequitable health of disabled adults falls short of what justice requires. Fourth, it recommends steps for moving toward adequate and equitable habilitation into health that justice requires. The focus is on social systems that support health, not access to clinical services.