Global-Report-Living-Colour-dr2-2

88
Inclusive Communities = Stronger Communities
GLOBAL REPORT ON ARTICLE 19: THE RIGHT TO LIVE AND BE INCLUDED IN THE COMMUNITY
they will open their first apartment for people with
significant physical disabilities as well as intellectual
disabilities, demonstrating for their government and
for the region that all people can be included in their
communities. They even made a movie showing how
people who had been institutionalized, now living in
the community, could enjoy a full life, including
getting married! 9
In Bahrain a young self-advocate said this in response
to the question, how can life be better for people with
intellectual disabilities? “There are some facilities for
children with special needs and support for them, but
eventually children grow up and there is nothing for
adults.” This is true in many places. Schooling is a
common frame of reference for all families, and
service for the population at large. There is not a
framework for how best to support adults with
intellectual disabilities living with their families
anywhere we surveyed. Person and family centered
planning and attention to the needs of the entire
family as well as the family member with intellectual
disabilities must be considered. Not one or the other,
but both.
In New Zealand the last of their public institutions,
the Kimberley Centre, was closed in 2006. The array
of services and supports there shows that everyone,
regardless of their level and type of disability, can be
supported in community environments. Strong
advocacy by families and people with intellectual
disabilities themselves helped create the political will
to close the institutions and to create a community
system of services and supports. While much has
been done, much remains. One father said, “While my
daughter is living in the community, she is not yet a
fully participating member of her community ... but
we are making progress.”