From the efforts of Sheila Stilwell, mother of a child with Down's syndrome and Alice Tavares de Melo, child psychiatry, this Association was born on 2 February 1962 under the name of the Portuguese Association of Parents and Friends of the mongoloid child. With the accession to the International League of Societies for the Mentally Handicapped, was necessary to change the name to the Portuguese Association of Parents and Friends of Children with mental disabilities, now known as the Portuguese Association of Parents and Friends of Mentally Retarded Citizens (APPACDM).

The Association aims to promote the inclusion of Citizens with Intellectual Disabilities in society, while respecting the principles of standardization, personification, personalization, and the balance of the families of people with mental retardation.