Support needs of adults with intellectual disability across domains: The role of technology

2011

Michael Wehmeyer
[email protected]
785-864-0723

People with and without disabilities universally value the goals of greater control and self-determination, inclusion and participation in their school or community, and enhanced social inclusion. However, for some people with disabilities, the Tech Act?s promise of technology to support these valued outcomes has remained largely unrealized. We argue that the field needs to move beyond traditional assistive technology to consider technology as a broad form of supports that not only compensate for or mitigate the effects of specific impairments, but make tasks and activities simpler, and easier to perform. In this manuscript we examine the intensity of support needs, as measured by the Supports Intensity Scale, of persons with intellectual disability (ID) by severity of their intellectual deficit, as well as examining the level of support needs of individuals with co-occurring autism, mental health problems, and physical limitations.

Support Needs, Intellectual Disability, Technology

Peer-reviewed publications in scholarly journals submitted

Professionals

Electronic (disc, CD, 508 compliant web posting)

N/A