TITLE:
Designing a Training Programme to Promote the Exercise of Self-Determination and Civic Engagement in Individuals Having an Intellectual Disability: Feedback on Collaborative Research
AUTHORS:
Barbara Fontana-Lana, Geneviève Petitpierre
KEYWORDS:
Self-Determination, Civic Engagement, Collaborative Research, Intellectual Disability
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.8 No.6,
May
31,
2017
ABSTRACT: Individual self-determination and civic engagement are key resources in the life of every individual. All the more so in the case of individuals with an intellectual disability (ID), who are frequently prevented, voluntarily or passively (for example through the failure to promote favourable conditions for learning), from implementing the resources that are required for acquiring and developing these skills. The importance of being able to apply these skills in everyday life is however acknowledged and encouraged by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006). This article presents and analyses the conditions for vertical and horizontal collaboration (Greenhalgh et al., 2004), which have contributed to the successful introduction of an educational approach to self-determination and active citizenship in a social care establishment for individuals having a mild to moderate ID. The research was conducted over two years (2014-2016) within the framework of a partnership between the establishment concerned and academic researchers. The principal stakeholders involved in the research, including 16 individuals with an ID, 13 educational care professionals, 4members of the managerial staff and 4 research workers, worked together to promote the adoption of principles of self-determination and civic engagement within the establishment, and designed a training programme aimed at individuals with an ID and professional support staff. The effectiveness of the intervention mechanism applied by this team has been verified and validated using a pre- and post-test evaluation, the results of which have appeared in a separate publication. A qualitative analysis of the collaboration conditions indicates, and on first sight this may appear paradoxical, that individual self-determination and its implementation are most successful when supported by a close-knit community, based on meaningful interdependence and mutually dependent relationships.