Opportunities for choice in day programs for adults with severe intellectual disabilities

Abstract

This paper examines choice-making in work and community access programs by people perceived to have a severe intellectual disability. The results indicate that the quality and quantity of choice-making are restricted in these settings. The impact of factors such as type of work setting, gender, perceived attractiveness and level of ability are investigated. The implications of this study for research, personnel preparation and workplace interactions are explored.

Educators' beliefs about inclusive practices in Western Australia

“…In addition, beliefs regarding controllability may also affect the outcome of a situation. The ability to make choices has been seen as a fundamental feature of the nature of professional life (Shaddock et al, 1993). It has been argued that teachers should have the right to accept or reject programs if they believed them to be unrealistic (Phillips & McCullough, 1990), and that the lack of teacher involvement or choice in the planning of new reforms undermined their rights regarding such decisions (Farber,199 1).…”

An Unplanned Journey into Individualised Planning

“…The data indicated that there were major inadequacies in the documentation of the individualised service plans in this sample and it is argued that these de ciencies could prevent service plans from achieving their objective of regulating services and orienting them to the needs and goals of individuals. (p. 73) This focus on meeting the expressed needs of individuals and on improving the ways in which they might exercise more choice and decision-making in their lives was the subject of much of my research in the nineties (Shaddock, Guggenheimer, Rawlings, & Bugel, 1993;Shaddock, Zilber et al, 1993;Zilber, Rawlings, & Shaddock, 1994;Rawlings, Dowse, & Shaddock, 1995;Shaddock, Dowse, Richards, & Spinks, 1998;Shaddock, Spinks, & Esbensen, 2000). In one study we examined the views of people with an intellectual disability about their experiences with individualised plans .…”