Are adults with intellectual disabilities socially excluded? An exploratory study in Taiwan.
Four in five Taiwanese adults with ID face social exclusion—target outreach by age, education, and severity.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Wang (2013) asked if adults with intellectual disability in Taiwan are left out of everyday life.
The team looked at national data from 2003 and 2006. They checked three parts of life: where people live, if they work, and if they have enough money.
They counted how many adults faced exclusion in each part and if the numbers got worse over time.
What they found
Four out of five adults with ID faced at least one kind of exclusion in both years.
The share who faced two or three kinds at once edged up a little.
Older, single, less-educated, and more severely disabled adults were hit hardest.
How this fits with other research
Matson et al. (2013) ran a close cousin study. They also found mixed exclusion, but split the sample by rural versus urban. Rural adults had better daytime activities and less money trouble, yet lonelier relationships. The two papers agree: exclusion is common; the shape just changes with place.
Lin et al. (2006) and Dagnan et al. (2005) mapped heavy hospital and ER use in the same Taiwan ID group years earlier. Wang (2013) widens the lens—from medical bills to whole-life exclusion—showing service use is only one piece of the gap.
Cooper et al. (2011) in the UK saw a similar patchwork: poorer neighborhoods cut specialist visits and raised ER trips, but did not block most social services. The Taiwan and UK data echo each other: area factors bend access, but not always in one direction.
Why it matters
Most of your adult clients with ID already face social exclusion in housing, jobs, or income. Use intake forms that flag older, single, or lower-education clients for priority supports. Add social-skills groups for rural folks and community-connection goals for urban folks. Track living, employment, and money indicators in treatment plans, not just health visits.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: The aim of this exploratory study is to examine to what extent adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) in Taiwan are socially excluded and to identify the factors that are potentially associated with such social exclusion. METHODS: The research method of this study is secondary data analysis, using descriptive and χ2 statistical analysis. Two data sets, from the 2003 and 2006 surveys entitled 'Survey of Living Situation for People with Disabilities in Taiwan', were used (n = 572; n = 618). In addition, 'independent living/living within the community' (as opposed to residing in an institution), 'employment' and 'household economic situation/residing in a low-income household' were social exclusion indicators in this study. RESULTS: The results revealed that in the 2003 (2006) survey, 81.9% (79.6%) of the subjects fell into at least one category of social exclusion, 11.3% (12.3%) fell into two or more categories and 0.2% (1.1%) fell into all three categories. Moreover, older women with ID, with no spouse or partner, lower educational levels and greater severity of the disability had a significantly greater likelihood of being subjected to more categories of social exclusion. CONCLUSIONS: The finding that the proportion of adults with ID and no social exclusion has risen from 18.1% in 2003 to 20.4% in 2006 represents an encouraging trend. However, there has been a marked increase in the proportion of the subjects with more categories of social exclusion, particularly with regard to those who have to endure all three categories, from 0.2% in 2003, to 1.1% in 2006. This implies that, at the time of the last survey, there was still considerable room for improvement in the social inclusion of adults with ID in Taiwan.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2013 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2012.01574.x