For adolescents and adults with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities (or, in the UK, learning disabilities or learning difficulties), the achievement of successful engagement with, and construction of meaning from, texts necessitates the implementation and use of specifically designed and adapted teaching strategies and resources. The careful selection and application of appropriate resources is vital to allow learners with intellectual disabilities to engage and participate with texts in positive, enjoyable and meaningful ways. The challenge for teachers of adolescents and adults with intellectual disabilities is to overcome the limited availability of suitable literacy resources for these learners. In this article, Michelle Morgan, who teaches literacy at the University of Queensland, and Karen Moni, director of the secondary programmes in the School of Education at the University of Queensland, identify the literacy needs and reading practices of adolescents and adults with intellectual disabilities based upon findings from an action research investigation. They go on to explore ways in which teachers can meet the challenge of limited resources for these learners through the specific and deliberate adaptation and creation of suitable texts.