Quality of life and support needs in people with intellectual disabilities

Abstract

According to the ecological-systemic perspective, disability is configured as a topological space
in which numerous paths converge determined by the interaction between the person and his
environment. These paths, in turn, branch out and intersect with the design of spaces that offer
the possibility, through strategic supports, to improve the individual functioning of disabled
subjects. To ensure this functioning, however, it is necessary to hypothesize multidimensional
interventions, aimed at realizing the individual's life project, which despite its "disabled identity"
is the bearer of special needs that interact with self-esteem and subjective well-being. Multiple
needs, qualitative and quantitative, which can be grasped to the extent that it leaves the logic
of the standards of the interventions and focuses on the overall management of the person. In
this direction, the study, in which 15 adults with intellectual disabilities participated, intends to
analyze the system of supports, through the application of the Supports Intensity Scale. Specifically,
the results highlighted significant relationships between the supports intensity, intellectual
functioning and adaptive behavior.