Just Getting on with It: A Record of Service About Relationships and Disability

ABSTRACT

Many individuals living with developmental disabilities including mental retardation experience feelings of frustration and a sense of loss in their efforts to find a partner. This paper presents and illustrates the Record of Service (ROS) as a tool for group worker self-reflection, skill building, and professional development. The ROS is used to examine three group meetings where obstacles to forming relationships are addressed. Interventions, practice modifications, and opportunities for growth are discussed. The strengths and capacities of develop-mentally disabled group members are highlighted. Readers are invited to “listen in” to a group worker's (the author) self-reflections on his work with this population and to consider the Record of Service structure, presented herein, as a tool for reflecting on one's group work.

KEYWORDS:

• Record of Service
• developmental disability
• sexuality
• risk
• acceptance