Producing Decisions in Service-User Groups for People With an Intellectual Disability: Two Contrasting Facilitator Styles

Abstract

Service-user groups whose goals include the promotion of self-advocacy for people with an intellectual disability aim, among other things, to encourage service users to identify problems and find solutions. However, service users' contributions to group sessions may not always be full and spontaneous. This presents a dilemma to the facilitator. In two case studies, we identify two ways in which the dilemma is managed. In one case, the facilitator takes an initiating role in each stage of a decision-making cycle. In the other, the facilitator short-circuits the decision-making cycle. The former seems to be closer to the philosophy of self-advocacy, but both nevertheless result in clients not taking the initiative and arguably disempowers them.

Perceptions and expectations of regular support meetings between staff and people with an intellectual disability

“…However, there is a possibility that staff concerns with empowerment may not always be in keeping with people with an ID's wishes and expectations. Past findings have shown that voices of people with an ID are not always properly heard in interactions with support staff (Antaki et al, 2006(Antaki et al, , 2002Bradshaw, 2001). It would be paradoxical if an attempt to foster agency resulted in people's own wishes and needs being overlooked.…”

“…There has been important work using conversational analysis to examine interactions between staff and people with a learning disability (Antaki, Finlay, Sheridan, Jingree, & Walton, 2006;Antaki, Finlay, & Walton, 2007;Antaki, Finlay, Walton, & Pate, 2008;Antaki, Young, & Finlay, 2002;. However, there has been little research where people with ID and staff members are simply asked about how they think about the conversations they have during their regular meetings, including what they want to achieve and what they think is important.…”

Third-party turns and shared knowledge: Supports and challenges to disabled people in social care and research settings

“…For instance in multi-party talk, the rules of next-speaker selection (Sacks et al 1974) may be flouted, particularly for those framed as less-than-competent members (Rapley 2004;Antaki et al 2006;Wilkinson et al 2010;Bolden 2012). When selected as next speaker in mundane situations, the disabled speaker's turn slot is regularly occupied by a third speaker, often someone close to the disabled person (Williams, 2011).…”

Promoting choice and control in residential services for people with learning disabilities

“…This is even found in situations in which supporters are attempting to promote empowerment. Our research to date illustrates how power is a dominant feature of interactions between people with learning disabilities and those employed to support them, to such an extent that even in forums set up to provide opportunities for service-users to speak out, subtle interactional dynamics may act to disempower them (e.g., Antaki, Finlay, Sheridan, Jingree & Walton, 2006;Antaki, Young & Finlay, 2002). This is acknowledged in official reports: Improving Services, Improving Lives states that disabled people can feel 'steered towards choices made by other people ' (Social Exclusion Unit, 2005, p64), in particular, that sometimes staff, managers and parents try to control the lives of people with learning disabilities (Learning Disability Taskforce, 2004).…”