Changes in the Provision of Day Services in Ireland to Adult Persons With Intellectual Disability

Abstract

Internationally, changes are advocated in the support available to persons with intellectual disability. Socially inclusive personalized arrangements are intended to replace congregated and segregated day services. The study examines the changes in the provision of day services within Ireland over a 5‐year period when new policies were being promoted but at time of economic stringencies. Secondary analysis was carried out on data extracted from the National Intellectual Disability Database on all persons aged 18 years and above in 2009 and 2014 who received day services, which were grouped into four main types: care centers, sheltered workshops, employment schemes, and vocational training. Participants in each type of service were profiled by age, level of disability, and living arrangements. Variations in the provision of these services across nine regions were also examined. In 2009, 59% of persons attended care centers, but the proportion had increased in 2014 to 69%. There were reductions in the numbers attending sheltered workshops (down from 23 to 16%) and those receiving employment supports (down from 13 to 11%). By 2014, variations in the numbers attending care centers were evident across the country. The increase in care provision does not accord with national or international policies. Rather, it may reflect ineffective policy implementation strategies and financial cutbacks which services experienced during this period. This study illustrates the value of a national dataset for monitoring policy implementation.

People with intellectual disabilities and labour market inclusion: What role for EU labour law?

“…15 In Ireland, data in the National Intellectual Disability Database from 2014 showed that of those people with ID participating in any kind of day services, 14.8% participated in a sheltered workshop and 9.9% received 'employment support', which included working in the open labour market. 16 Other comparative research confirms a picture of very low employment participation rates for people with ID in Europe. 17 Even when people with ID are active in the labour market, their experience of employment differs from that of other workers.…”

A longitudinal study of post‐school provision for Irish school‐leavers with intellectual disability

“…Outreach programmes served 3% of this cohort. These proportions are broadly reflective of all adult persons using these day services (McConkey, Kelly, Craig, & Keogh, ).…”

“…Indeed for adults of all ages, care centres are the dominant form of day service provision in the Republic of Ireland and in the past 5 years the proportion of persons attending these centres has grown across all ability levels (McConkey et al., ). In part this may result from pressures to quickly find placements for leavers from schools and training centres during times of economic stringencies on health spending when staffing ratios in particular dis‐improved (Health Manager, ).…”

A cacophony of protocol: Disability services in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic

“…Covid-19 has dramatically changed how services for people with disabilities operate in Ireland. Disability services over the past 150 years have gone through many transformations from support for people with disabilities through institutionalisation in large congregated settings to a more person-centred rights-based approach within services (Dukelow and Considine, 2018; McConkey et al., 2018). Since the 1990s, in light of how the global Disability Rights Movement discredited the medical model based approach, Ireland began another transformative period towards a more social model of service provision (Dukelow and Considine, 2018; Garcia Iriarte, 2016).…”

“…Since the 1990s, in light of how the global Disability Rights Movement discredited the medical model based approach, Ireland began another transformative period towards a more social model of service provision (Dukelow and Considine, 2018; Garcia Iriarte, 2016). The shift towards the social model of person-centred, rights-based approach evident in the policies and legislation 1 has become even more pronounced in the 2010s (McConkey et al., 2018). Due to the pandemic, we are now in the midst of another transformative period, which is not only indicating long-term, major changes in the provision of services, but also uncovering the nature of the mode of delivery that has emerged of the past number of years.…”