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Inclusive Communities = Stronger Communities
GLOBAL REPORT ON ARTICLE 19: THE RIGHT TO LIVE AND BE INCLUDED IN THE COMMUNITY
complete reliance on families to provide support and care
for their son or daughter with an intellectual disabilities
throughout their life.
In countries where we were working with partners on pilot
initiatives about living and being included in the
community, we were able to support our member
organization in the process of leading community change
and to better understand the role of family organizations
in transforming communities. In Colombia we are working
with a government department to explore
alternatives to the current institutional
services for children at risk. In Israel, we are
supporting the family led organization in its
efforts to transform its services to promote
life in the community.
Throughout the campaign, and as a result
of our approach, we have been able to
collect information at the grassroots,
national, regional and international level
from diverse stakeholders around the
world. We recognize we need to work
harder to hear and understand the voices of
all people with intellectual disabilities.
Even with our participatory methodology,
we feel it is important to acknowledge that this report
does not fully reflect the perspective of all people with
intellectual disabilities. While we have made an effort to
include some of their experiences, the voices of people
with significant support needs, those who have higher
challenges in communicating and people who live in
institutions remain under-represented.
Our research is the result of the collection of voices from
around the world telling us about the reality of their lives.
As you will see in this report, the richness of our data and
knowledge is in the stories of families and self-advocates;
in their successes and struggles to make living and being
included in the community a reality.