Finnish Information Center on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
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About this website
Parent Organisation of Mentally Handicapped Children in Uusimaa founded the Finnish Information Center on Mental Retardation (Finnish Information Center on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities) in 1992. The purpose of this website is provide a source of information on mental retardation in Finland and elsewhere. The website has about 6.900 pages of information concerning on medical syndromes, social welfare, justice, education and rehabilitation.According to the World Health Organization (1994), approximately 156 million people, or 3 percent of the world's population, have mental retardation. Prevalence by continent is 20,310,000 in Africa, 525,000 in Australia, 97,710,000 in Asia, 15,390,000 in Europe, 13,800,000 in Latin America, and 8,610,000 in North America. The degree of impairment from mental retardation has a wide range from profoundly impaired to mild or borderline retardation. Causes of mental retardation are numerous, but a specific reason for mental retardation is determined in only 25% of the cases.
Mental retardation (intellectual and developmental disability) affects about 0.6 % of the finnish population (IQ less than 70). There are some rare disorders, like AGU, INCL and Salla disease (see Mental retardation in Finland), which are a part of Finnish disease heritage, but most common syndromes are Down and Fragile X.
Parent Organisation of Mentally Handicapped Children in Uusimaa was established in 1990, and is a certified non-profit organization. Our mission is to provide support to families and individuals with mental retardation and the exchange of ideas and experiences. We have 14 Societies for Persons with Mental Handicap as members.
Our website has been sponsored by Finland’s Slot Machine Association (RAY). RAY’s task is to raise funds through gaming operations to support the work of voluntary health and welfare organizations. RAY has the exclusive right in Finland to operate slot machines and casino table games, as well as to run a casino. In its gaming operations RAY aims to prevent the economic and social problems that some players can suffer as a result of their gaming.