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Background: Person-centred service delivery underpins current approaches to working with individuals with intellectual disabilities. We investigated views of staff from a service organisation regarding their roles in creating desired futures for adults with intellectual disabilities. Methods: Data were gathered from staff of a large organisation that provided a range of services to adults with intellectual disabilities. Respondents were asked to describe their role in assisting an individual with intellectual disability to meet their goals for the future. Responses were analysed using a text analysis programme. Results: Two major themes were identified: 'Support for self-determination' and 'Business-as-usual'. These themes were not entirely separate but had some overlap. There were indications that staff experienced competing demands in their role(s). Conclusion: Although central to person-centred planning, staff who work with adults with intellectual disabilities may not see support of self-determination as a key factor in creating a desired future.

A key goal of the NDIS, the federally funding individualised funding scheme for people with a disability in Australia, is to facilitate an ordinary life for them in their communities. This study examined family perceptions of the contribution NDIS made to create an ordinary life for their adult member with intellectual disability. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 families. The families found this to be a complex process in that while the move to the new funding system supported some elements of a life more aligned to that of similar aged peers, there were also a number of missed opportunities. The opportunities that were available to the adult with intellectual disability were affected by stakeholders' differing views of disability. NDIS presents an opportunity to continue to build towards enabling people with a disability to make their own choices and, with support when needed, build a life similar to their peers. The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is the new federal individualised funding scheme for people with a disability in Australia. The National Disability Insurance Scheme gives people with a disability their own funding. This helps them to be able to make their own choices about what they want to do and what support they need. The National Disability Insurance Scheme hopes to support an ordinary life for people with a disability in their communities. This study investigated how it is working for adults with intellectual disability. It showed that it is a complicated process. Some aspects of the National Disability Insurance Scheme are working well but there are missed opportunities. There is a need to keep talking about how people think about disability so we can understand the impact different views have on the National Disability Insurance Scheme planning and outcomes for adults with intellectual disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The study reported here investigated the views of staff who worked with adults with intellectual disability regarding the likely future of such adults. Method: Staff were provided with a short vignette portraying an adult with intellectual disability and asked to describe that individual's future in five years and then to indicate the likelihood of the individual's participation in aspects of adult life reflecting life as typically experienced by age peers in the general population. Results: Responses suggested that staff did not expect the adults with intellectual disability to have the same experiences as their peers, although responses to direct questions about participation were more positive than those to the vignette. Conclusions: While choice was seen to be an important determinant of future activity by some staff, others did not see the individual with intellectual disability having a great deal of agency in determining the direction of their life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]