For people with developmental disabilities integrated leisure and social activities can by a key to the community. Yet most of the organized recreational, leisure and social activities are segregated services or are provided for groups of people who enter community settings but who, as individuals, never become integrated into these settings. There are several reasons for this state of affairs.
One thing that is missed in the haste to provide recreational services, or to teach leisure skills, is that usually it is relationships that make leisure time meaningful and full. We forget the social nature of the human species that brings enjoyment and value to communal activities. Most individuals pursue recreational and leisure activities not so much for their own sake, but because such activities represent a social occasion—something to do in the company of others they like, enjoy and admire. Skills, therefore, are important to most individuals only insofar as they provide entry into a social context and enable relationships to grow. For people with developmental disabilities, relationships with people who are not disabled and who are not paid to be with them, are especially important. Recreational and leisure activities, like integrated work, are naturally suited to lead to such relationships if support is given to allow this to happen.
Barriers to Integration
Perhaps the major barrier to the participation of people with developmental disabilities in community activities and organizations is attitudinal. The attitude of service providers, parents and the general public is that such participation is impossible or not worth the trouble. As long as physical and social integration are not an immediate goal of the recreational and leisure services provided to people with developmental disabilities, they will not be full participants in the life of our communities.
Our negative attitudes can range from the very crude public stereotypes long ago exposed and discarded by human service workers, to the more subtle but just as oppressive attitudes often found within the human service field today. Our oppressive attitudes reflect themselves in the language we too often use to describe people with developmental disabilities, and in many implicit beliefs such as:
- It takes too much time, money and energy to organize integrated recreational activities—segregated activities are therefore an acceptable compromise because more people can benefit;
- Participation in integrated leisure activities is inappropriate or impossible for people with severe disabilities;
- Only professionals with specialized training can teach or participate with people who have disabilities;
- People should have good skills before engaging in an activity with people who have no disabilities; and
- People with disabilities would not be interested in belonging to the community organizations to which other people belong, nor would the organizations be interested in them.
Often we are so attached to our belief that public attitudes are the problem, that we fail to notice ordinary citizens—bus drivers, waiters and waitresses, store clerks and many others—doing an excellent job of providing support to people with disabilities who are using their services. We fail to notice that many people would be happy to become more involved with a specific individual (not a group), and will do so if human service workers will give them “permission” instead of behaving in a protective or proprietary manner.
The attitudes still held by those engaged with people with disabilities also contribute to other barriers, such as architectural and transportation barriers that exist almost everywhere and the barriers that are imposed by the lack of resources to provide support to enter community settings as individuals rather than as part of a group. Feeling that integrated recreational and leisure options are not a high priority, service agencies and their staff settle for whatever they can do or whatever is available.
Alternatives Possible Within Existing Structures
However, in some communities, including those where, Tim, Sarah, Barry, Tom and Kevin live, service providers are working with the broader community to make sure that people with developmental disabilities have opportunities to get involved. They are moving into ordinary community services and organizations and finding support from the people who belong to and operate these services and organizations.
Readers may be interested in knowing about the origins of the funds used to provide the support received by Tim, Sarah, Barry, Tom and Kevin. Tim’s support person is funded through a respite care grant; the program receiving the grant made a conscious decision to provide integrated recreational activities rather than the more usual segregated respite services found when respite care is seen only as a service for the family. Sarah’s teacher and parent helped her to join the Junior Auxiliary; an instance in which a positive expectation rather than new funding was needed. Barry’s staff members are funded to provide residential services to him; to them, facilitating integration is part of their job. Tom has been involved as an Arc board member and as a member of People First. These experiences made it easy for him to think of joining another organization. Kevin’s support person is provided through a Medicaid-funded “day activity” program without walls; none of this program’s activities take place in segregated settings.
These examples demonstrate that it is the priority we place on integration, not the funding source, that can ensure that people will have opportunities to form relationships and to belong to the community. When we see integration as a priority we can begin to see the roles of human service workers and parents differently as well—as facilitators rather than as providers of service or care.
Where are people with disabilities participating in regular community leisure, recreational and voluntary activities? They are doing so in communities where parents, professional staff, ordinary citizens and people with disabilities have worked together to create recreational environments that support people, reduce or eliminate barriers and provide opportunities for success. As the following examples illustrate, in such communities, people with disabilities are more likely to feel that they really belong, and will find many ways to do so.
Tim, a 15 year old with autism, goes to a neighborhood youth center every week with a support person. He loves foosball, and the other youths who go there have enjoyed helping him learn to play well; they admire his skill. One day Tim got quite upset and had to leave the center because he began to throw things. The next time he came in, his apprehensive support person engaged the other youths in a discussion about the situation. One of them, a leader with a “tough” reputation, said “Well, that’s okay—I get upset sometimes myself.” Conversation over, they went back with Tim to play more foosball.
Sarah, a teenager from a small town, joined the Junior Legion Auxiliary, where she was treated like any other member. The other girls supported her and encouraged her to support the group, and she became very involved in their activities. A couple of years ago, she was asked to carry the state flag at their convention. Her developmental disabilities did not impair her abilities to represent her group in public, to belong and to choose what she wants to do.
Barry was unable to go to restaurants and other public places with his family because they could not deal with his extreme behavior. Staff who worked with him developed approaches his family could use, and together with Barry, they learned how to go out together without incident. Now Barry enjoys these outings and his world has continued to expand.
Tom, who is a friend of the author and experiences Down syndrome, joined the Knights of Columbus several years ago after meeting a Knight during a fund raising activity to benefit the local Arc. One thing led to another, and the Knights accepted Tom as a member. Now he is co-chairperson of the Youth Committee and has received an award from the Knights for his work with them.
Kevin, who is labeled profoundly retarded and has physical disabilities as well, goes to a neighborhood coffee shop with a support person who has helped the waitresses and the regular customers get to know Kevin. Now Kevin is a “regular” too, and expresses strong preferences about what he wants to order and which waitress is his favorite. And for the first time in his life, the people in the neighborhood speak to him when he and his family go out for a walk.
This article was originally published in the TASH Newsletter, June 1987, and was originally prepared by the Research and Training Center on Community Integration with support from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services, National Institute for Disability and Rehabilitation Research.