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Persons with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PMID) are in danger of not being granted the human right to experience self-determination. Attitudes questioning the relevance of the rights of persons with significant support needs and a lack of guidance on how to practically go about ensuring self-determination might explain this. Providing knowledge about this matter, this article contributes through an ethnography highlighting the relationship between persons with PIMD and professionals. The concept of holding another’s identity was found to be a possible, fruitful approach toward self-determination in this context. Descriptions of holding dialogues with an ethics of care suggest specific conditions for moving practices toward self-determination: recognize the role of the professional, emphasize embodied empathy, and enable involvement. The ethnography suggests a broadened understanding of self-determination, pinpointing the importance of sensitivity toward the other’s particularity.

Self-determination is a human right that people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) risk not being granted. Exploration of such topics and research in general has traditionally not included people with PIMD as sources of knowledge; rather, the perspective of others has been sought. Ethnographic methods highlighting descriptions of lived experience have been argued as a way of including such individuals, producing knowledge building on the person's perspective. Exploring the human right to be self-determined through ethnographic approaches can bring novel ways of understanding the concept, both about how to listen and learn from such experiences, and about implications for understanding self-determination. All people have the potential for self-determination, by being understood through embodied communication in caring relationships. By fostering relations with people with PIMD in sensitive, ethical ways, and addressing their profound dependency, their self-determination can be realized.How to cite this article: Skarsaune SN. Selfdetermination of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities.