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Choices for people with intellectual disabilities: official discourse and everyday practice
- Authors:
- ANTAKI Charles, FINLAY W. M. L., WALTON Chris
- Journal article citation:
- Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 6(4), December 2009, pp.260-266.
- Publisher:
- Wiley
Official policies on "choice" for people with intellectual impairments tend toward fundamental life choices (e.g., who to marry, what job to work at) at the expense of the minor but more frequent concerns of daily living (when to wash, what to eat, where to go in the evening). The authors undertook an examination of how choice policies are actualised in day-to-day activities in two group homes. Data were drawn from a broader ethnographic study of residential services for people with intellectual disabilities serviced by National Health Service Trust in the United Kingdom. Conversation analysis, used to explicate the interactions, showed how staff, although undoubtedly well-meaning, use the discourse of choice to promote institutional managerial objectives, thus demonstrating a gap between practice and overarching policy theory and recommendations.