Post-World War II, the vocational parent system was established in Japan in 1951--based on the Child Welfare Law--to provide aftercare for older dependent children. The vocational parents lived with the children and provided the guidance necessary for them to live independently. The evolution of the vocational parent system is divided into three…

Background: Over 10 years ago, Lisa Scott first began making art at a studio in Sydney that supports people with intellectual disability to realise their creative ambitions. In this article, we consider what it has meant for Lisa to become an artist and, in the process, share the story of other big changes in her life. Methods: During…

In England, the national mortality review programme for people with intellectual disabilities, the LeDeR programme, was established in 2015. The programme supports local areas to review the deaths of all people with intellectual disabilities aged 4 years and over. Each death has an initial review; if indicated, a full multi-agency review takes…

In 2021, York St John University and Mind the Gap collaborated to validate a Certificate in Higher Education (Cert HE) in the Performing Arts for learning disabled and autistic adults. This article presents context surrounding inclusive education, identifying the histories of ableism within assessment processes. We then discuss how we worked in…

Literature pertaining to open disclosure predominantly refers to acute care settings; this is the case in, for example, the UK, Republic of Ireland, Australia, Korea and the USA. There is, however, a dearth of literature regarding open disclosure related to people with intellectual disabilities. A practice example of open disclosure is presented…

In their recent review of special educational needs in schools, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF, 2020) highlights the fact that teaching strategies that are known to work well for mainstream learners are also likely to be effective for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). In this article, the authors explain how…

This paper proposes the method of 'narrative portraiture', which, located within the wider field of narrative studies, offers an analytical tool to narrative data. Two research projects, one on disability and one on identity, are used to illustrate how the method can be applied. While the paper will focus on the methodological benefits and…

The three of us met in 2014 through our shared interest in adult literacy. We are colleagues as practitioners and as researchers; altogether, we have been in the field of adult literacy in Canada since the 1980s. Our experiences working with learners come from our role as volunteer tutors and paid staff in provincially funded programs and…

Although many nations advocate for the full inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in all realms of life, these individuals are nevertheless still frequently excluded. One field of life that has rarely been considered central for inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities is military service. A unique programme was developed…

People with intellectual disabilities are more likely to experience adverse childhood experiences than those in the general population. Additionally, the conceptualization of 'trauma' is far broader than traditionally understood in order to encompass the far reaching relational nature of people with intellectual disabilities traumatic experiences.…

As a consequence of long-lasting experiences of communicative and social deprivation and exclusion, adults who are deaf and have intellectual disabilities must be considered a high-risk group for the development of mental health problems. A therapeutic living community model with special emphasis on social communication development that has been…

It is imperative that we devote resources and research effort to find out what is going on in families where there is a member with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) over the course of the COVID 19 pandemic and how adaptations can be made to provide the most effective help. This article discusses the need for more research to be…

In this paper, we will describe, justify and critique a participatory approach that we have developed in order to evaluate the success of a participatory research project that was exploring ways of making museum learning experiences more inclusive for adults who have a diverse range of access preferences. Because we were researching in a unique…

In the early decades of the twentieth century the question of mental disabilities was widely discussed in Italy, while the first special schools for the intellectually impaired were set up. An important role was played by the Franciscan friar Agostino Gemelli (1878-1959), a physician, renowned psychologist, and founder in 1921 of the Catholic…

Non-consensual sterilization is one of the characteristic historical abuses that took place mainly in the first half of the 20th century. People with intellectual disability (ID) were a prime target as part of the ideology of negative eugenics. In certain jurisdictions, laws were in force for several decades that permitted sterilization without…