Movement on Shifting Sands: Deinstitutionalisation and People with Intellectual Disability in Australia, 1974–2014

Abstract

This article reviews four decades of deinstitutionalisation policies in three Australian states, New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. It seeks to understand the factors influencing the slow and haphazard progression of the movement and its more contested outcomes such as the redevelopment of some institutions and their replacement with other congregate or cluster housing models that are at odds with the original visions of community care and normalisation. The article highlights the consistent and effective opposition to deinstitutionalisation from some families of institution residents, and the shifting policy frameworks and ideologies—from ‘normalisation’ to ‘choice’—in which it progressed. In particular, the article highlights the intersections between deinstitutionalisation and urban policy. The article is based on a review of existing scholarly literature, policy documents, inquiry reports and media sources.

本文对澳大利亚三个州——新南威尔士、维多利亚和昆士兰——40 年来的去机构化政策进行评估，以图了解这一运动为何进展缓慢无序，并理解那些备受争议的结果，如某些机构的重新开张，以及用其他集中居住的方式取代机构的做法，这样的做法违背了社区养育和正常化的初衷。本文凸显了某些机构居住者家庭对去机构化的一贯而有效的反对，以及摇摆不定的政策框架和意识形态——从“正常化”到“选择”。本文特别强调了去机构化与城市政策的交叉。本文的方法是对现有学术文献、政策文件、调查报告和媒体报道进行综述。

Keywords::

• Deinstitutionalisation
• community care
• intellectual disability
• Better Cities Program