Deinstitutionalization and People with Intellectual Disabilities: In and Out of Institutions

by Kelley Johnson (Editor), Rannveig Traustadottir (Editor)

This international collection of personal and professional perspectives takes a fresh look at deinstitutionalization. It addresses the key steps towards deinstitutionalization as they have been experienced by people with intellectual living inside total institutions, moving out, living in the community and moving on to new forms of both institutionalization and community life. Many of the chapters are contributions from people with intellectual disabilities. They are based on a life history approach and give a unique personal account of the lived experiences of institutional life and deinstitutionalization by the people who were subject to it. The life story of Tom Allen (19­12-1991) is interspersed throughout the book, providing a powerful testimony of the way institutions and deinstitutionalization have affected one individual over the course of almost a century. Researchers and practitioners will find this book an insightful and accessible reflection on deinstitutionalization, and a source of encouragement for improving the lives of people with intellectual disabilities.

Genres: Disability

294 pages, Paperback

First published May 31, 2005

Reviews

[Thomas Edmund · Rating 4 out of 5]

So a bit of a cross-over here from my 'day'-job to my hobby.

If you can't work it out from the title this piece collects stories, essays and analysis of people with ID moving from institutions to the community.

Inside the pages you'll find some horror stories, some sad tales, and a few positive yarns. Also clumped in there are some discussions about the process of 'moving out' mostly looking at the challenging cultural perceptions of society, funders and even family members.

In total everything in this book is an important read - although reading the whole book through left me with a slight feeling of disorganization. While the utmost effort has been made to make this book a coherent single thesis, the reality is it is a compilation of several different works (once again all the individual works are good, they just don't fit together into an awesome whole)