Employment, retirement and elderly persons with an intellectual disability.
Most Australians with intellectual disability reach 55 with no work history and no retirement plan.
01Research in Context
What this study did
McGimsey et al. (1995) asked older Australians with intellectual disability about jobs and retirement.
They used a survey. Most people were over 55. Many lived in group homes or with family.
What they found
Most had never held a paid job.
The few who had work loved it and feared the day it would stop.
No one had a plan for retiring.
How this fits with other research
Sievert et al. (1988) showed workers with ID lose jobs mainly because of social or responsibility slips, not task errors. F et al. add that most older adults never even get a first job, so the risk of losing one is moot.
Milhem-Midlej et al. (2025) later proved you can still teach job skills after 55 with tablet video prompts. Their data extend F et al. by showing employment hopes can be acted on, even late in life.
Bellon-Harn et al. (2020) found the same group is half as likely to play sport as other Australians. Together these surveys map a wider pattern: older adults with ID are left out of both work and play.
Why it matters
If you serve adults over 50 with ID, ask about work history and retirement wishes. Write a transition plan that includes volunteer or part-time roles. Use video prompting or other teaching tools to build new skills. A small job or club role can protect dignity and health.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
A national Australian study of people with an intellectual disability of 55 years of age and over investigated their employment and retirement patterns, attitudes to work and retirement, and the degree to which they were involved in leisure or recreational programmes. Two cohorts were recruited: one included all known members of the target group who agreed to participate in the study in the states of Queensland and Western Australia; and the second was a proportional, random sample drawn from a national database on a state population basis. A large number of the participants had never been involved in full- or part-time employment, either in a competitive or supported environment, or in workshops. The majority of those who had worked expressed strong positive attitudes toward employment and concern about retirement, suggesting the need for pre-retirement programmes including transition and choice-making skills to prepare participants for the future.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 1995 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.1995.tb00478.x