The role of ‘natural supports’ in promoting independent living for people with disabilities; a review of existing literature

Abstract

Accessible summaryThis paper is a summary of research on the support people with disabilities get from their friends and family. The research is mostly about people with intellectual disabilities, but there is also some research on people with other disabilities. The main findings in the research are as follows:ª

Counting inclusion with Chantal Mouffe: a radical democratic approach to intellectual disability research

“…Social inclusion is a widely shared value in national and international policies (Cobigo et al 2012;Duggan and Linehan 2013;Mahar, Cobigo, and Stuart 2013;Overmars-Marx et al 2014;Power 2013a), but underlying this consensus are disparate aims (Clifford Simplican et al 2015). Purposes behind social inclusion can be individual or collective.…”

“…Social inclusion has been a central concept within the field of intellectual disability for the last 30 years, but an upsurge of published literature suggests that scholars are reassessing the concept's value in the twenty-first century (Amado et al 2013;Bigby 2012;Cobigo et al 2012;Duggan and Linehan 2013;Hall 2009;Overmars-Marx et al 2014;Clifford Simplican et al 2015). For example, Clifford Simplican et al (2015) argue that definitional disputes around social inclusion lead to methodological disagreements over how to measure inclusion, reveal philosophical differences in the purposes behind inclusion, and prompt some scholars to search for clearer concepts.…”

Getting by with a little help from my friends: siblings report on the amount of informal support received by adults with disabilities

“…Such supporters typically include family members, with parents providing the bulk of the support, followed by adult siblings and, to a lesser extent, family friends, acquaintances and neighbours (Prosser & Moss ; Lindblad et al . ; Duggan & Linehan ; Sanderson et al . ).…”

“…Beyond identifying who provides such support, we also need to consider the amount of informal support by examining the ‘capacity and reality of the support provided’ (Duggan & Linehan , p. 41). When considering supports for adults with IDDs, three life domains typically receive attention: recreation, employment and housing.…”

“…In addition to formal supports, many adults with IDDs rely on informal, or natural, supports to meet their daily needs. Defined as voluntary and unpaid assistance, informal supports are often provided by family members, friends, neighbours and other community members (Lindblad et al 2007;Duggan & Linehan 2013). Such informal help contrasts with help from teachers, case managers, group home workers or other paid professionalspeople whose job is to assist the individual with disabilities (Clement & Bigby 2009;Milner & Kelly 2009).…”