Invisible Access Needs of People With Intellectual Disabilities: A Conceptual Model of Practice

Abstract

One of the important purposes of equal rights legislation is to codify the right to equal and active participation in society for people with disabilities. Accommodating the needs of a person with a disability enables her/him to live with maximum independence, privacy, and dignity. Thus, most such laws include sections that emphasize accessibility as a significant enabler of participation. Accessibility describes the degree to which a system, facility, or service is usable without modification by as many people as possible (Australian Government Information Management Office [AGIMO], 2008). It refers to one’s ability to reach a place, move and navigate in it, use and enjoy a service, receive information, and take part in programs and activities, all in an equal, respectable, independent, and safe manner (Americans With Disabilities Act [ADA], 1990; Israeli Equal Rights for Persons With Disabilities Law — Accessibility Amendment, 2005). Access ramps or Braille-encoded elevator panels are ubiquitous examples of common accessibility accommodations. Yet, accessibility accommodations for people with intellectual disabilities are nearly absent, as their accessibility needs are often invisible to legislators, professionals, and laypeople alike. For example, although access needs to public transportation of a person using a wheelchair are easily apparent and protected by legislation, they are virtually nonexistent for ablebodied people with an intellectual disability (Improving Mobility and Accessibility for People with Learning Disabilities in Europe [MAPLE], 2003). Yet, transportation access is reported by people with intellectual disabilities as a significant barrier to community inclusion and social participation (Fager, Perker, & Kelly, 2005). Accessibility needs and accommodations for people with physical and sensory disabilities are covered extensively in the accessibility literature. However, while advising the Israeli National Commission on Equal Rights for People With Disabilities, I was surprised to discover that the development of similar models, guidelines, and reasonable accommodations for people with intellectual disabilities is preliminary at best (Salmi, 2007). Legislation and regulation of these issues are sparse, and most research is anecdotal and lacks a comprehensive underlying model of practice. Although some accessibility barriers and accommodations were intuitively apparent to me based on my clinical experience, as an occupational therapist, with adults with intellectual disabilities, others were later on identified through interviews I conducted with people with intellectual disabilities, family members, and service providers (YalonChamovitz, 2007). Below, I juxtapose the information garnered from the published literature with these factors to suggest a conceptual model of accessibility for people with intellectual disabilities.