Diffusion of the Shared Citizenship Paradigm: Strategies and Next Steps.
Follow the five-step diffusion path to plant the Shared Citizenship Paradigm deep enough that it stays.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Luckasson et al. (2024) built a five-step roadmap. The steps are knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation, confirmation.
The roadmap spreads the Shared Citizenship Paradigm. That paradigm treats adults with disabilities as full citizens.
What they found
The paper is theoretical. It gives no numbers. It gives a checklist to keep systems from sliding back to old ways.
How this fits with other research
Sulzer-Azaroff (1981) came first. That paper lists ten variables that speed adoption, like cost and ease. Ruth keeps those ideas but packs them into five clearer steps.
Sengupta et al. (2025) tested a caregiver program in India. They found the same barriers Ruth predicts: logistics, time, weak systems. Their real-world pain fits Ruth’s confirmation step.
Doughty et al. (2015) show PBIS in schools. Two decades of ups and downs mirror Ruth’s roadmap. PBIS teams moved through knowledge to confirmation, just like Ruth says.
Why it matters
You can copy the five steps when you pitch any new practice. Start by showing staff what the citizenship paradigm looks like. Next, win hearts with stories, not data. Then let teams choose to try it, give them tools, and set a date to check if it stuck. Use the checklist to stop backslide before it starts.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The field of disabilities is being challenged to adopt a paradigm that can be used to guide the transformation of services, supports, and research practices to ensure and enhance the personal autonomy, rights, and community inclusion of people with disabilities. This article describes strategies associated with the systematic diffusion and sustainability of an innovation such as the emerging Shared Citizenship Paradigm (SCP), which has the potential to guide the transformation. The systematic diffusion process incorporates five components: knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation, and confirmation. The systematic process also addresses the risks of dissonance, backlash, unintended consequences, and backsliding that can emerge when the sustainability of a paradigm is not supported. Throughout the article, we stress that meaningful change in organizations and systems requires use of a paradigm such as the SCP and its principles and foundation pillars to guide the change, and a systematic process such as that described in this article to bring about and sustain the change.
American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2024 · doi:10.1352/1944-7558-129.5.362