Abstract

During the last 20 years independent living and interpersonal relations, which are directly associated with the concept of quality of life of individuals with intellectual disability are being two of the most popular issues in the research and academic field of special education. However in Greece there is lack of research data and educational approaches on this issue. Main aim of the present study is to examine support staffs’ views and perspectives about independent living and interpersonal relations of individuals with intellectual disability, as they interact with them on a daily basis and confront a huge number of their problems. The research method used was a semi-structured interview consisting of open-ended questions, divided in two sections: (a) independent living, and (b) interpersonal relations. Participants were 30 support staff from three special education institutions in Thessaloniki (Greece) providing daily care and support to individuals with intellectual disability. The results have shown that support staff believes that (a) individuals with intellectual disability in Greece lack of independent living skills, and face limited chances for independence, and that (b) social isolation and insufficient quality of life are being enhanced by poor interpersonal relations. The participants supported the view that Greek educational policy has to focus on the improvement of the above domains, since both independent living and interpersonal relations are important aspects of quality of life and self-determination. Although this research has some limitations i.e. regarding the number of participants, it is obvious that there is a necessity for further research and educational implementations in this particular field.