Community involvement and socialization among individuals with mental retardation.
Adults with ID say, "Take me out and let me hang out"—make that the first line in any support plan.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Kleinert et al. (2007) asked 1,348 adults with intellectual disability what they want most in life.
The team mailed a simple survey through day and residential programs across the United States.
People circled their top goals from a list that included money skills, health care, jobs, and fun activities.
What they found
Community outings and more time with friends landed at the very top of the wish list.
Work training, safety, and health goals came later.
In short, social life beat every other priority.
How this fits with other research
Anthony et al. (2020) looked at current health programs and found they are mostly gym classes that sit apart from daily life. That gap shows we are still not weaving health into the community outings people actually want.
Seo et al. (2017) add that teens with extra medical or behavioral needs require far more supports to join those same outings. Desire alone is not enough; plans must budget for added staffing or transport.
Tichá et al. (2012) warn that living in large facilities or certain states already gives adults fewer everyday choices. If the system limits choice, the dream of more community time may stay out of reach.
Why it matters
Start every plan by asking, "Where do you want to go and who do you want to see?" Then build behavior goals, transport, and staff training around those answers instead of fitting fun in last.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Mental retardation, a condition characterized by significantly lower than average intellectual ability and adaptive behavior deficits, currently affects between 2% and 3% of the population. Individuals with mental retardation experience many difficulties throughout their lives, with one such difficulty being that they have few opportunities for community involvement and often have few social relationships. To determine if increased community involvement and increased socialization are among the most common desires expressed by individuals with mental retardation, we conducted a study examining pre-existing data of 1348 individuals. The study focused on specific desires expressed by individuals with mental retardation--including, but not limited to, increased community involvement and increased socialization. Although these individuals expressed a wide variety of desires, they expressed a desire for increased community involvement most frequently. Individuals also frequently expressed a desire for increased socialization, change of residence, work-related changes, increased personal belongings, and increased personal activities. We discuss the importance of community involvement and socialization, the link between the two, interactions that could potentially exist among other expressed desires, and ways of increasing community involvement while addressing other desires that individuals with mental retardation expressed.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2007 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2005.09.004