Pastoral Relationship with People with Intellectual ... - Theses

114With the focus of this extended reflection being concerned with peoplewith intellectual disability living in institutional accommodation it could beargued that such a focus is becoming increasingly redundant due to a currentlychanging trend in the style of accommodation being made available to peoplewith disability.Certainly it can be noted that presently in South Australia, as elsewhere inAustralia, there is a philosophic trend away from institutional massaccommodation for people with disability. However, it is worth considering theextent to which this trend is a consequence of a heartfelt commitment to securinga better mode of accommodation and living standard for people with disability,and intellectual disability in particular, or whether it is for more pragmaticreasons. As has been noted both the Home for Incurables and Minda experiencedsignificant increases in the costs of institutional health care through the 1970s andinto the 1980s, leading such institutions to rely ever more heavily on governmentfunding. Thus, as Dickey asserts, this has led “to greater government control anda search for less institutionalised solutions to the obvious physical problemsbeing confronted.” 319An institution such as Minda can point to the influence of a philosophysuch as normalisation. This philosophy was directly articulated to the Mindacommunity by Bank-Mikkelsen in 1967 and Wolfensberger in 1980.Subsequently, it influenced Minda’s move from the 1970s onwards to developcommunity-based accommodation from a desire to provide its accommodatedpeople with a more socially normal mode of accommodation and lifestyle.Nonetheless, it cannot be discounted that, to some extent, such a fundamentalshift in accommodation practices was influenced by the belief that it wouldproduce more manageable financial outcomes.It can be argued that the move to community accommodation is beneficialfor the accommodated people in question even if it is undertaken for the mosteconomically prudent of reasons. However, it does raise the question concerningthe extent to which institutions will continue to support such accommodationshould the costs of maintaining and further developing such residences start tooutweigh more institutionally-oriented modes of accommodation.319 Dickey, Rations, Residence, Resources, 116.