Abstract
Many people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are isolated and lack meaningful opportunities to participate and develop social networks within their communities. Sharing membership with a community that fosters connection and belonging is essential to well-being. As a human rights profession, social work is uniquely situated to overcome the macro barriers that prevent full community inclusion for people with IDD. However, the experiences and needs of those with IDD have largely been left out of the profession’s discourse on diversity and oppression. This article presents a call-to-action for social work to engage in strategies and solutions to resolve macro barriers to community inclusion, to dismantle the injustices that people with IDD continue to experience, and to move the promise of community inclusion from rhetoric to reality. Social workers can promote community inclusion for people with IDD through a variety of approaches, including using a human rights-based framework, aligning with person-centered planning, fostering evidence-based practices, using participatory action research, increasing disability content in social work curricula, and engaging in community action and advocacy.
Highlights
Many people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are isolated and lack meaningful opportunities to participate and develop social networks within their communities
Since 1967, when deinstitutionalization began in the United States, extensive progress has been made for people with IDD, including a shift to individuals living in their communities, a surge in the delivery of individualized services, and the development of federal policies like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that prohibit discrimination against individuals with disabilities in all areas of public life (Scott et al, 2008)
The social work profession is uniquely situated to address this disparity through its strengths-based approach and the advancement of core values shared among the profession and people with IDD, including social justice, dignity and worth of the person, and the importance of human relationships (John & Schrandt, 2019; National Association of Social Workers [NASW], 2020)
Summary
Community inclusion is a right for all people, for people with IDD this right often goes unfulfilled. From the early days of poor houses to contemporary practices of early intervention and parent training, advocacy and case management, and assessment and counseling, people with IDD have benefited from many supports and services provided by the social work profession (John & Schrandt, 2019; Mackelprang, 2013) Even with such supports and services, people with IDD continue to be marginalized and excluded from full community inclusion (Macdonald et al, 2018; Scior et al, 2020). Through various domains and strategies, social workers can create significant momentum in furthering the quality of life and inclusion for people with IDD These domains include using a human rights-based approach, aligning with person-centered planning, fostering evidence-based practices, using participatory action research (PAR), increasing disability content in social work curricula, and furthering community action and advocacy. Paternalism has resulted in the exclusion of people with IDD from life decisions, directing their services, & from acting on their own behalf (Glen, 2015); “everything for the people, but without the people” (Román, 2010, p. 127)
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