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ERIC Number: EJ1475247
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-May
Pages: 13
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1360-2322
EISSN: EISSN-1468-3148
Available Date: 2025-05-21
'We're Not Really into Helping, We're into Being Useful': Service Provider Practices That Support Belonging Opportunities in the Lives of Adults Labelled with Intellectual Disabilities
Paige Reeves1; David McConnell1; Shanon K. Phelan2
Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, v38 n3 e70070 2025
Background: Social inclusion focussed on belonging is increasingly emphasised by disability advocates and policymakers, yet belonging often remains absent for adults labelled with intellectual disabilities. People labelled with intellectual disabilities often rely on service providers to support their belonging. Methods: In this critically informed ethnographic work, we draw on interviews with nine disability services leaders and prolonged participatory field explorations with five adults labelled with intellectual disabilities, their friends and support workers to explore how service providers support opportunities for belonging. Results: Reflexive thematic analysis generated three themes--centering inclusion, belonging and rights; creating opportunities for self-exploration and 'dreaming'; and facilitating connections to people and place. Conclusions: Findings highlight supporting belonging as complex work that requires a relational understanding of autonomy, work environments that support reflexivity, and the redistribution of resources to allow for higher staff wages, larger individual support contracts and funding for staff training and post-secondary education.
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; 2Faculty of Health, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada