Search

Summary: This article presents the results of a research project involving 10 people with intellectual disabilities concerning their idea of "a good life" in a residential care setting, within a context of personal budgets. We introduce the capability approach as a framework for focusing on the opportunities personal budgets offer for people with intellectual disabilities. We make use of qualitative interviews following a photovoice project in which people with intellectual disabilities documented their lives in order to research what they deem valuable and aspire to. Findings: In the analysis section, we present the elements which the participants identified as limiting and enhancing for imagining their future. From their stories, we learn that their aspirations are nourished by the encounters and social bonds that they engage in within a residential care context. The results make clear that the use of money offers opportunities to elaborate on what is already known and enables the realization of aspirations, while interactions with significant others more often than not encourage participants to explore and try out changes and thus further develop people's set of aspirations. Applications: In drawing the discussion to a close, we explore the implications these stories might have for understanding the role of aspirations in the practice of care and support for people with intellectual disabilities. The findings encourage us to think about a relational pedagogy and to address this in the practices of personal budgets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Social Work is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Abstract\nPoints of interestIn this article, we build upon a historical and critical analysis of de-institutionalisation strategies, representing a fundamental shift in disability policy and practice starting in the 1960’s. We state that de-institutionalisation has commonly been interpreted and translated as a vital ‘transition’ – referring to the dismantling of residential care and institutions – in rights discourse, policy, and (self-) advocacy. Whereas de-institutionalisation currently often interferes with neo-liberal welfare state reforms, we argue that the focus on ‘transition’ tends to ignore controlling and oppressive institutional care cultures that circulate in a variety of settings, whether ‘community based’ or not. In this article, we elaborate on Francois Tosquelles’ Institutional Pedagogy as a theoretical framework to radically ‘transform’ (residential) care in a wide variety of settings. Our analysis is based on qualitative interviews with residential care providers and (self-) advocacy groups, and offers a more in-depth insight in the complexities of de-institutionalisation as ‘transformation’.The common interpretation of de-institutionalisation states that large institutions for citizens with a disability need to be dismantled. It is claimed that institutions should be replaced by care and support in society to realise human rights for all.The article examines how closing down institutions hasn’t changed institutional ways of thinking, like oppressive and controlling ways of acting. It also has not facilitated inclusive relations. We state that de-institutionalisation should also focus on transforming the culture of residential institutions, no matter where this care and support are organised.The article uses a theory of Francois Tosquelles, Institutional Pedagogy, to rethink and transform institutions.The research builds on interviews with board members of care organisations that are changing, and with (self-) advocacy groups in Flanders.The article describes the need to transform residential institutions in a radical way. After all, residential care might still be the choice or last resort for citizens with a disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by the conceptual frame of the capacity to aspire, this study explores how public administrative officers can make formal resources available and accessible for ger residents while recognizing the “capacity to aspire” among migrant ger residents in the Tahilt area of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. We argue that building people’s capacity to aspire, consisting of (1) internal efforts to (2) consensus building, resulting in (3) practices of voice being heard, and (4) bottom up collaborations between public administrative officers and residents, represents a strategy toward alleviating difficulties encountered in the new urban space collectively. The ethnographic findings of this study illustrate inaccessibility of formal resources, spatiality and aspirations in an effort to incorporate residents’ voices for more collaboration. The paper calls for public administrative officers, such as public administrative officials, planners and social workers, to negotiate between policy objectives and ger residents’ agency, so that the capacity to aspire is nurtured for a collaborative culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]