Managing relational autonomy in interactions: People with intellectual disabilities (original) (raw)

Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities

In this article, we explore interactional practices which involve a person with intellectual disability and their conversation partner. In England, people with intellectual disabilities sometimes have personal assistants (PAs) when they are paid for by the individual's personal budget. However, since the focus here is on social interaction, a "conversation partner" could be anyone, maybe a volunteer, a friend or a formal paid support worker. At an international level, not all countries have a welfare system designed to support disabled people in their independent living (Priestley, 2001, p. 3). What is truly global is communication itself. We are interested here in how these interactions support or undermine the autonomy and control of the individual, and how they are played out on a day-today basis in real time. Pervasive notions of autonomy in Western culture emphasize the desirability of independence and self-determination. Self-reliance is viewed as an individual achievement and one that many disabled people, who may require assistance with daily living, are not able to aspire to. However, "choice and control" are salient themes in policy about personalized services for all disabled people in the UK (Glendinning, 2008) and have particularly been highlighted in intellectual disability services, where people's lives have traditionally been dominated by protection (Stainton & Boyce, 2004). We know that these are also seen as important issues in many other countries, including Malta (Callus & Bonelli, 2017), Australia (Bigby,