Aging & Social Change: Ninth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

Whereas population ageing has been a much debated issue over the last decades, the political and scientific awareness of the longevity of adults with intellectual disabilities is considered relatively new. When older people with intellectual disabilities are coming into focus, attention has especially been drawn to medical aspects or to expected challenges of their ageing for health and social service providers. The way care and support relate to the welfare rights and quality of life of people with intellectual disabilities who are ageing is far less discussed. Therefore, scholars in the fields of nursing and disability studies aimed to investigate this issue in a recent practice-oriented research project at the University College Ghent. This presentation focuses on the results of a qualitative part of the project in which ten life and care trajectories of ageing people with intellectual disabilities were explored. Based on open interviews with the individuals themselves and with significant others from their formal and informal networks, we identified mechanisms in society that allow or deny older people with intellectual disabilities access to welfare provision. Moreover, we discovered concerns, interests, and aspirations that are often left unseen. This points us towards the necessity to go beyond the classical debate of ‘in or out of place’ with regard to welfare provision for ageing people with intellectual disabilities, and to look for opportunities and strategies to create ‘a place to be’.