Social supports impede progress

THE recent debate following the HSE and the Equality Authority’s decision to investigate allegations of exploitation in sheltered workshops raises issues about the overall approach to intellectual disability service provision.

Central to these is the question of whether services are about maintaining or developing their service users’ levels of functioning.

Work is a good example of this. If you ask anyone in mainstream society why they work, they invariably link it to self-fulfilment and to earning a salary that allows them to pursue familial and recreational aspects.