Self‐Advocacy as a Means to Positive Identities for People with Intellectual Disability: ‘We Just Help Them, Be Them Really’

Abstract

Collegiality, ownership and control by members characterized groups. They gave members opportunities for paid or voluntary work, skill development and friendship which contributed to their confidence and engagement with life. Possibilities for new more positive identities such as being an expert, a business-like person, a self-advocate and an independent person were opened up. Self-advocacy is an important means of furthering social inclusion of people with intellectual disability.

The psychological and social impact of self‐advocacy group membership on people with intellectual disabilities: A literature review

“…Lending particular weight to this outcome, the Beart et al (2004) study had a quality rating of 0.8 and reported changes to self-concept to be a main finding. Anderson and Bigby's (2017) study, which had a quality rating of 0.65, found that self-advocacy group membership and associated participation, for example, in community education programmes, afforded members the opportunity to assume the social identity of "expert," and the organization of the meetings provided the opportunity for members to take up the social identity of "a business-like person." Although group membership could be seen as central to self-advocacy groups, interestingly changes to social identity were reported in only two studies.…”

“…For example, Anderson and Bigby (2017) found that engagement with self-advocacy groups provided members with access to collegiality, respectful relationships, interesting activities, a sense of ownership, and control. At the individual level, studies have looked at the impact of membership of self-advocacy groups on self-advocates themselves.…”

“…For example, Anderson and Bigby (2017) found that engagement with self-advocacy groups provided members with access to collegiality, respectful relationships, interesting activities, a sense of ownership, and control. In this way, it is hoped that there are "spillover" effects of self-advocacy groups in breaking down stigma associated with intellectual disability (Anderson & Bigby, 2017). Others have focused on the importance of action and change at the public level resulting from self-advocacy, including a shift in power, with self-advocates influencing services and structures (Aspis, 2002).…”

“…Some researchers have written about the challenges of government support which necessitates, to some degree, partnership between government and self-advocacy organizations which somewhat paradoxically aim to speak out against existing societal views and structures (Barnes & Warmsley, 2006). Limited and diminishing government funding and, in many places, a lack of explicit policy support have meant that remaining financially afloat rather than engaging in radical action has become a dominant theme for self-advocacy groups in recent years (Anderson & Bigby, 2017). On the other hand, self-advocacy groups can become subject to the same conditions as other services, dominated by contracts, targets and imposed deadlines (Barnes & Warmsley, 2006).…”

Identifying conceptualizations and theories of change embedded in interventions to facilitate community participation for people with intellectual disability: A scoping review

“…Hall (2013, p. 259) for example, considers community participation to entail subjective feelings, a sense of belonging and social relationships, which he views as a transformative process where a person "moves towards a sense of attachment and belonging to proximate and distant others." Hall (2013) and others (Anderson & Bigby, 2017;Darragh, Ellison, Rillotta, Bellon, & Crocker, 2016;Frawley & Bigby, 2015) illustrate how segregated groups, based around activities such as drama, sports or self-advocacy may be places of community for people with intellectual disability, where through participation they gain a sense of belonging.…”