'I can find my own Elder!' Cultural engagement as serious leisure for Aboriginal adults living in non-Aboriginal group homes

Abstract

Leisure experiences for people with intellectual disabilities are often limited by influential dependency-laden assumptions found within disability service paradigms. Within a group home living environment, leisure can become even more constrained through the necessity to accommodate the desires, abilities, and needs of other residents as well as the time, duties, and available resources of the group home staff. For Canadian First Nations people with intellectual disabilities who may have been removed from their culture to be supported in a group living environment, cultural engagement needs to be purposeful and intentional as the desire to experience traditional activities is for more than simple pleasure, as explained by Stebbins’ concept of serious leisure. Using an ecological perspective, the purpose of the study was to (a) gain an understanding of the knowledge, experience, and meaning of Aboriginal culture to Aboriginal adults with intellectual disabilities living in a group home/supportive living setting, (b) become aware of the challenges experienced by the participants when connecting with their culture, and (c) develop strategies to address challenges presented so the participants can maintain/become further engaged in their culture. Using an Indigenist research framework to come to understand their experiences and ascribed meaning of Aboriginal culture, the participants were able to ‘Know’, ‘Be’, and ‘Do’ culture on their own terms. The strengths perspective may help to write a counter-story of possibility, hope, expectation and independence in response to a dominant grand narrative of inadequacy, hopelessness, underachievement and dependence which is typically the paradigmatic thinking associated with marginalised groups.

Keywords:

• Leisure
• intellectual disability
• Aboriginal culture
• strengths perspective

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Canadian Centre on Disability Studies for funding this research. Thank you to the individuals, supports and management team of the organisation who participated in this study.

Disclosure statement

This research was approved by the Research Ethics Board at the University of Regina. Any real, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest, including power imbalances or coercion which could have affected the relationship between researchers and participants in this study, were identified, disclosed, and appropriately addressed.

Notes

1. CLSD is the department of the provincial government which works to ensure that the physical, emotional and social needs of adults with intellectual disabilities are met in their communities.

2. In Canadian culture, a powwow is a gathering of people to celebrate life through song and dance, ceremonies, rituals and displays of hospitality and unity.