Participation by adults with lifelong disability: More than a trip to the bowling alley

Abstract

Community participation by people with lifelong disability is not a new concept. Yet, within the field of disability there is ongoing debate about the barriers to participation and how these can be solved. At a practical level, participation remains an issue that is often misunderstood by many who seek to promote the integration of adults with lifelong disability into the community. Community presence alone does not denote participation or integration. Furthermore, the role of the speech-language pathologist is rarely, if ever, discussed in the research into participation by people with lifelong disability. In this paper a brief overview is given of the barriers and solutions to participation by people with lifelong disability, including those with complex communication needs who use or require augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). Two innovative solutions, the Change Laboratory and Second Life™, are discussed. These may be useful for the speech-language pathologist to consider when seeking additional ways to support community participation by adults with lifelong disability.

Keywords:

• Lifelong disability
• AAC
• participation
• communication

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Speech pathology Australia for the opportunity to present the Elizabeth Usher Memorial Lecture. I would like to thank Kolbein Lyng and Bronwyn Hemsley for their helpful comments on this paper.

Notes

1) This model suggests that it is not impairment that results in people being disabled but rather disablement comes from the environmental, economic, and cultural barriers that exist in society.

2) In NSW, David Richmond conducted a report on the services for those with psychiatric illness or developmental disability. He recommended that people with intellectual disability required alternative accommodation to institutions. These included family style homes within the community staffed by non-medical personnel.