Supporting Community Participation

Many people with intellectual disabilities remain excluded from communities and socially isolated despite decades of policies aiming at furthering their participation. The meaning of community participation is often vague, and outcomes expected from support service poorly defined. Evidence shows that carefully designed programs and skilled practice can support individuals with intellectual disabilities to be actively engaged in communities of their choice. This chapter reviews approaches to supporting community participation. It provides exemplars of different program designs, support worker skills and organisational features necessary to provide quality and individually tailored support for participation by people with intellectual disabilities. Finally, the chapter considers the types of community development strategies that create the foundations for social inclusion.