Resilience, Family Care, and People with Intellectual Disabilities

Resilience in Families with Children and Adult Members with Intellectual Disabilities: Tracing Elements of A Psycho‐Social Model

“…Even under circumstances where there might appear to be little likelihood of ‘return’ for caregivers, for example, where a disabled child or relative is unable to speak, express emotion, show signs of development or indicate gratitude, parents can display an extraordinary capacity to maintain ‘positive illusions’ (Brown 1993) sufficient to keep going, or to delay any prospects for signs of reciprocity for very long periods of time (Grant et al. 2003; Orsmond et al.…”

“…It is not clear whether parents who manage to delay the ‘moment of truth’ are necessarily resilient, though it does emerge as another of the paradoxes that parents have to deal with over the life span. Parents also work hard to render invisible the many things they do for or on behalf of their sons and daughters to minimize an awareness of indebtedness by their sons and daughters and to continue nurturing a sense of integrity and positive self‐image in them (Grant et al. 2003).…”

“…The concept of resilience appears to have been resistant to a single overarching theory, let alone a unifying definition, despite appearing in an increasing range of academic and disciplinary literatures with respect to its (still contested) constituents, antecedents and possible functions (Grotberg 1995;Hawley & DeHaan 1996;Barnard et al 1999;Rutter 1999Rutter , 2000Clarke & Clarke 2003;Grant et al 2003). Autobiographies from families of children with intellectual disabilities (e.g.…”

The role of positive psychology constructs in predicting life satisfaction in adolescents with and without cognitive disabilities: An exploratory study

“…However, Schalock (2004) identified positive psychology as a component of the ''emerging disability paradigm'' (p. 204) because of its implications for organizing conceptions of personal well-being in people with intellectual disabilities. And the growing body of research on promoting strengths in adolescents with disabilities (Clark, Olympia, Jensen, Heathfield, & Jenson, 2004;Grant, Ramcharan, & Goward, 2003;McCullough & Huebner, 2003) suggests that the positive psychology movement has brought increased attention to the importance of building on positive characteristics as a means to promote valued outcomes in adolescents both with and without disabilities. Positive psychology research, however, is still in its infancy and, to some degree, still occurs in relative isolation.…”

Handbook of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

“…Moreover, positive and negative perceptions are not opposite ends of the same dimension, but seem to be predicted by different variables. We believe that in the next decade family assessment research will continue a focus on positive outcomes (Gibson, 1995;Grant, Ramcharan & Goward, 2003;Grant, Ramcharan, McGrath, Nolan & Keady, 1998;Scorgie & Sobsey, 2000), reinforcing their co-existence and differentiation from negative outcomes. Seltzer and Heller (1997) stated it accurately and poignantly when they wrote the following in their introduction to a special issue of the journal Family Relations: "One point on which all studies agree is that there is great heterogeneity in the subjective experience of parent caregivers .…”