Vocational Participation of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities
(Duration: 01.02.2008 – 31.01.2013)
Function: Principal Investigator
Financed by Austrian Science Fund – FWF Project number: P 20021
In recent years, research on aspects of the post-educational life of people
with an intellectual disability has become increasingly prominent within the
scientific discourse of Special Needs and Inclusive Education and related
disciplines. Bringing an end to the marginalisation of the topic this
development was favoured, amongst other things, by a change of perspective
towards self-determination and social inclusion, which is beginning to manifest
itself both in the field of research and in pedagogical practice. However, so
far little attention has been given to the specific meaning of experiences of
participation of people with an intellectual disability, especially in the
sphere of working life. The research project at hand aims at reconstructing
both objectively determinable and subjectively experienced participation in the
vocational biography of people with an intellectual disability. In order to
achieve this goal, the transition period from "school to work" and the "working life"
phase of people with an intellectual disability shall be studied with particular
regard to the specific institutional situation in Austria. The study will address
the questions
(i) whether and how people with an intellectual disability
experience participation during the phases transition from school to work and working
life and
(ii) whether or not there is a connection between experiences
of participation and the perception of an individual and self-determined life
design.
Focussing on these points allows to derive conclusions on the
future design of support offers for participation in working life of people with
an intellectual disability which are oriented on the principles of self-determination
and participation.