An Effective Program Design to Support Older Workers With Intellectual Disability to Participate Individually in Community Groups

Abstract The foreshadowed increase of older people with intellectual disability has become a reality in many developed countries. As these adults age, improved quality of life can be achieved through applications of conjoint policy aims of inclusion and participation. A transition‐to‐retirement (TTR) program developed for employees of a large multisite disability employment service in Sydney, Australia, used these aims to effect successful partial retirement. The authors describe the program logic of the TTR, detailing its conceptual components as the first step to enabling it to be tested and replicated in other settings. The TTR program has three components: promoting the concept of retirement, laying the groundwork for inclusion of would‐be retirees with intellectual disability in the community, and constructing the reality. The third component comprised five stages: planning, locating a group, mapping new routine, recruiting and training mentors, and monitoring and ongoing support. The project's participants were 24 older employees, who replaced 1 day a week of work with membership of a community group and were supported by mentors who facilitated involvement of the participants in their group. Data collected provided information on the implementation of the program, the time and costs expended, and challenges encountered. Key to the model was a coordinator, skilled in generic case management and specific disability interventions (such as active support), who collab...
Source: Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities - Category: Disability Authors: Tags: Original Article Source Type: research