Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
J Appl Res Intellect Disabil. 2012 Sep;25(5):423-32. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-3148.2012.00683.x. Epub 2012 Mar 26.
Promoting self-determination is recognized to be an essential element of disability service provision; however, the extent to which older people with intellectual disability working in supported employment are enabled to make intentional decisions about retirement is not well understood.
This research explored the views of older people with disability and service providers to understand the elements that impact on people's decision to retire. Seventy-six people participated in semi-structured interviews, including 33 older people with intellectual disability working in supported employment, 10 people who had retired and 30 service providers.
Service providers strongly supported the right of people to retire; however, people with disability almost never reported the ability to make self-determined choices about retirement. Barriers to self-determination included an association between retirement, poor health and meaningless activities, which was perpetuated through structural service gaps.
Although disability services and service providers emphasize the importance of promoting self-determination for people with disability, those working in supported employment are not currently enabled to make self-directed choices about retirement. To address this requires more flexible services, better information about retirement, exposure to real experiences and assistance to express preferences and participate in problem solving throughout the lifespan.
促进自决被认为是提供残疾服务的一个基本要素；然而，在支持性就业中工作的老年智障人士在多大程度上能够对退休做出有意的决定，这一点还不是很清楚。
本研究探讨了残疾人和服务提供者的观点，以了解影响人们退休决定的因素。76 人参加了半结构式访谈，其中包括 33 名在支持性就业中工作的老年智障人士、10 名已退休的人士和 30 名服务提供者。
服务提供者强烈支持人们退休的权利；然而，智障人士几乎从未报告过能够对退休做出自主选择的能力。自决的障碍包括退休、健康状况不佳和无意义活动之间的联系，这通过结构性服务差距得以延续。
尽管残疾服务和服务提供者强调促进智障人士自决的重要性，但那些在支持性就业中工作的人目前还不能自主选择退休。要解决这个问题，需要更灵活的服务、更好的退休信息、接触真实的经验，并在整个生命周期中提供帮助来表达偏好和参与解决问题。
