“Lost in the literature.” People with intellectual disabilities who identify as trans: a narrative review

Abstract

Purpose

This narrative review aims to examine how trans people with intellectual disabilities are perceived and discussed in the academic literature.

Design/methodology/approach

A narrative review was carried out to better understand the positioning of people with intellectual disabilities who identify as trans.

Findings

There was a lack of clear terminology, an over medicalization of both people with intellectual disabilities and trans people and evidence that identifying with a non-conforming gender identity was seen as a problem by services. Services need to be better informed about issues around gender identity so that they are able to better support trans people with intellectual disabilities.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no previous literature review has focused only on trans people with intellectual disabilities.

Citation

Keates, N., Dewar, E. and Waldock, K.E. (2022), "“Lost in the literature.” People with intellectual disabilities who identify as trans: a narrative review", Tizard Learning Disability Review, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 46-52. https://doi.org/10.1108/TLDR-04-2021-0009