Friendships/Relationships

  • Community Participation and Social Networks: An Information Package (.pdf) (2002) prepared by Pam Walker addresses issues and strategies related to promoting community membership for people with developmental disabilities. This package was previously prepared by Zana Marie Lutfiyya in 1991 as an information package on “Personal Relationships and Social Networks.”
  • Policy Bulletin on Social Relationships is first of a series of bulletins summarizing research findings for those who make and are impacted by policy. This document looks at relationships between people with and without disabilities.
  • Unlikely Alliances: Friendships and People with Developmental Disabilities (.pdf) (1993) by John O’Brien and Connie Lyle O’Brien is a reflection on the nature of friendship, on four of its dimensions, and on the meanings of friendship for people with and without developmental disabilities and the communities they inhabit and create together.
  • Affectionate Bonds: What We Can Learn by Listening to Friends (1990) by Zana Marie Lutfiyya describes a qualitative study of friendships between people with and without disabilities, including how they met, characteristics of their friendships, and implications. For a copy of this monograph, email Center on Human Policy.