Futures of adults with intellectual disability: staff expectations

Background: The study reported here investigated the views of staff who worked with adults with intellectual disability regarding the likely future of such adults.

Method: Staff were provided with a short vignette portraying an adult with intellectual disability and asked to describe that individual’s future in five years and then to indicate the likelihood of the individual’s participation in aspects of adult life reflecting life as typically experienced by age peers in the general population.

Results:Responses suggested that staff did not expect the adults with intellectual disability to have the same experiences as their peers, although responses to direct questions about participation were more positive than those to the vignette.

Conclusions: While choice was seen to be an important determinant of future activity by some staff, others did not see the individual with intellectual disability having a great deal of agency in determining the direction of their life.