Draws on a unique 3-year action research study that surveyed daily life and residents' experiences. Provides evidence-based strategic and practical suggestions for ways that staff and organisations can improve quality of life for residents. Authors from La Trobe University, Australia.

This international collection of personal and professional perspectives takes a fresh look at deinstitutionalization. It addresses the key steps towards deinstitutionalization as they have been experienced by people with intellectual disabilities: living inside total institutions, moving out, living in the community and moving on to new forms of both institutionalization and community life. Many of the chapters are contributions from people with intellectual disabilities. They are based on a life history approach and give a unique personal account of the lived experiences of institutional life and deinstitutionalization by the people who were subject to it. The life story of Tom Allen (1912-1991) is interspersed throughout the book, providing a powerful testimony of the way institutions and deinstitutionalization have affected one individual over the course of almost a century. Researchers and practitioners will find this book an insightful and accessible reflection on deinstitutionalization, and a source of encouragement for improving the lives of people with intellectual disabilities.

Narrowed Lives is an illuminating portrait of what life is like in Finnish group homes where adults who have profound intellectual and multiple disabilities live their lives.

This book gathers together recent international research in intellectual disability (ID), examining the diverse modes of existence that characterise living with intellectual disabilities in the 21st century. Ranging from people with no speech and little mobility who need 24-hour care, to people who marry or hold down jobs, this book moves beyond the typical person with ID imagined by public policy: healthy, with mild ID and a supportive family, and living in a welcoming community. The book is divided into three sections. The first, ‘A richer picture of people and relationships’, expands our understanding of different people and lifestyles associated with ID. The second section, ‘Where current policies fall short’, finds that Supported Living provides just as 'mediocre' a form of care as group homes, and concludes that services for people with challenging behaviour are unrelated to need. The contributors’ research identifies no effective employment support strategies, as well as technological and legal changes that prevent organisations from employing people with ID. With nearly a quarter of this population in poor health, the contributors reflect on whether ‘social model’ approaches should be allowed to trump medical considerations. The third section, ‘New thinking about well-being’, reveals that being old, poor, and living alone increases health risk, and that medication administration is significantly more complex for people with ID. Moving beyond 20th century certainties surrounding intellectual disability, this book will be of interest to those studying contemporary issues facing those living with ID, as well as those studying public health policy more widely. The chapters in this book were originally published in issues of the Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability.

Intellectual disability is a generalized disorder appearing before adulthood characterized by significantly impaired cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors. With the current limitations in curative treatment for intellectual disabilities, the rehabilitation and management of affected individuals remains a major factor in the management and treatment of symptoms and for the improvement of daily life. Developmental Challenges and Societal Issues for Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities is a comprehensive academic resource that examines treatment and rehabilitation options for those who have intellectual disabilities and examines educational, vocational, and psychosocial needs that can improve quality of life for these individuals. Featuring a range of topics such as comorbidities, epidemiology, and stigma, this book is ideal for psychologists, psychiatrists, pediatricians, psychiatric nurses, clinicians, special ed teachers, social workers, hospital administrators, mental health specialists, managers, academicians, rehabilitation centers, researchers, and students.