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Programs and Practices to Support Community Participation of People with Intellectual Disabilities

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Handbook of Social Inclusion

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Abstract

People with intellectual disabilities fare badly on all indicators of social inclusion compared to the general community. The reasons for this stem from the complex interaction of their individual needs for support with participation and discriminatory social structures. Community participation is a core component of social inclusion, which despite significant policy attention and program investment remains elusive for people with intellectual disabilities. This chapter explores three primary ways that community participation has been conceptualized for adults with intellectual disabilities, and reviews evidence about strategies for achieving it. The significance of conceptual clarity and need to differentiate and tailor programs to people with intellectual disabilities run as core themes through the chapter. The first two sections provide a brief introduction to a critical realist understanding of intellectual disabilities and broad conceptualizations of community participation. The following sections discuss community participation as convivial encounter, community participation as social relationships, and community participation as a valued sense of belonging and identity, and consider the types of interventions and strategies for furthering participation that follow from each of these. Attention is drawn to the scant evidence base for effective programs and the limited focus of programs on people with more severe and profound intellectual disabilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Living with Disability Research Centre, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Christine Bigby

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  1. Christine Bigby
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Correspondence to Christine Bigby .

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  1. School of Health Sciences, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia

    Pranee Liamputtong

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Bigby, C. (2021). Programs and Practices to Support Community Participation of People with Intellectual Disabilities. In: Liamputtong, P. (eds) Handbook of Social Inclusion. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48277-0_36-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48277-0_36-1

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