Self-determination and the empowerment of people with disabilities

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The Importance of Self-Determination to the Quality of Life of People with Intellectual Disability: A Perspective

There is both an intuitive and theoretical link between self-determination and quality of life for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Theoretically, definitions of self-determination have framed the construct with regard to its contribution to a person’s overall quality of life, while theoretical frameworks of quality of life have included self-determination among the core dimensions contributing to enhanced quality of life. These theoretical linkages have been supported by research on the quality of life and self-determination of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and the relationships between these constructs. This article provides an overview of theoretical frameworks of self-determination, their relationship with theoretical frameworks of quality of life, and research pertaining to these constructs with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It is concluded that self-determination and quality of life are important constructs in designing supports that enable people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and that an important means to enhance the quality of life of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities is to promote and enable people to be self-determined

The Future of Positive Psychology and Disability

For much of the history of the application of psychology to disability, the research and clinical focus of the field was deficits-oriented: documenting what people with disability could not do, proposing theories of why they could not do these things, creating measures to assess this incapacity and incompetence, and building interventions and treatments predicated on disease and pathology. It has been only in the last few decades that conceptualizations of disability allowed for consideration of strengths and positive attributes along with the presence of disability and only in the past two decades that a positive psychology of disability has emerged. This article will briefly summarize the factors that led to the emergence of a focus on the positive psychology of disability and a strength-based approach in the field, examine the state of knowledge and practice as it pertains to the positive psychology of disability, and will examine challenges that serve as barriers to progress in this area and opportunities for advancement. Among these is examining how “optimal human functioning” can be understood in ways that includes, and not excludes, people with disability. The importance of shifting the disability research and practice focus to emphasize flourishing, well-being, and self-determination of and for people with disability will be discussed, as well as the necessity for the field of positive psychology to more aggressively reach out to include people with disability among those populations whom the field values and includes

Self-determination, vocational rehabilitation, and workplace supports

This is the published version. Copyright 2003 IOS Press.This article introduces the special issue on self-determination and vocational rehabilitation by defining the selfdetermination construct and examining its relevance to vocational rehabilitation services

Introduction to Special Topic Issue on Self-Determination

Over the past two decades, promoting the self-determination of students with disabilities has become a best practice in secondary education and transition services (Wehmeyer, Abery, Mithaug, & Stancliffe, 2003; Wehmeyer, Agran, Hughes, Martin, Mithaug, & Palmer, 2007). Self-determination refers to self- (vs. other-) caused action—to people acting volitionally, based on their own will. Volition is the capability of conscious choice, decision, and intention. Self- determined behavior is volitional, self-caused or self-initiated action

Centers for independent living and transition-age youth: Empowerment and self-determination

This is the published version. Copyright 2004 IOS PressAbstract. A primary function of centers for independent living is to empower individuals with disabilities and to support greater independence. These functions overlap with the purpose of transition planning for youth with disabilities, and it is increasingly evident that CILs can play an important role in such transition services. This article discusses the potential role of CILs in transition services for youth with disabilities, particularly in promoting self-determination, and provides an example of a program that CILs could replicate to achieve such outcomes

A Functional Model of Self-Determination: Describing Development and Implementing Instruction

This article describes a functional model of self-determination as a dispositional characteristic of individuals. This model has been used to conduct research to examine the impact of self-determination on the lives of people with developmental and other disabilities, to describe the development of self-determination, and to design interventions to promote self-determination for people with and without disabilities