The Arc's Self-Determination Scale: Procedural Guidelines

Chapter 2
Theoretical Issues
Self-Determination: An Overview
On June 30, 1978, Ruth Sienkiewicz-Mercer, who until that time
had lived at the Belchertown State School for people with mental
retardation, moved into an apartment in Springfield,
Massachusetts. She described the first days of her new life in
these words:
“I had never had a place of my own. As a result, I had
never worried about buying groceries and planning meals,
paying the rent and the phone bill, balancing a checkbook,
making appointments, figuring out how to keep the
appointments I made -- all of the things adults just do. But
starting out in society at the age of twenty-eight, after
living at a state institution for the mentally retarded for
sixteen years, I found these everyday tasks confusing and
wonderful and frightening” (Sienkiewicz-Mercer &
Kaplan, 1989, p. 202).
Confusing, wonderful and frightening might be as apt a
description of adulthood as any forwarded by academicians or
philosophers. Reading Sienkiewicz-Mercer’s observations of her
new life, perhaps the most noticeable thing is the universality of
her experiences. Remove references to disability and these
experiences parallel those of most young adults as they venture on
their own for the first time. There is, however, something that
young people who venture into adulthood and succeed have in
common. Mithaug (1991) pointed out that “in every school in this
country a few children succeed regardless of the instruction they
receive. Teachers identify these students early because they have
purpose in their lives. They know what they like, what they can
do, what they want and how to get it” (p. ix). These young people
are, Mithaug concluded, self-determined. Appropriately, leaders
in the Department of Education have identified self-determination
as a critical outcome for youth with disabilities. Halloran (1993),
discussing the transition services requirements of the 1990
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), identified
self-determination as the “ultimate goal of education” (p. 214).
Ward (1988) called the acquisition of self-determination “a critical
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