Comparative Program Options for Aging People with Intellectual Disabilities

  Retirement is a flexible and negotiated stage of life, tied to social and economic trends as well as individual work and life experiences. Australia has no formal retirement policies for people who use disability day‐support services and older people with disabilities participate in a range of different types of age‐specific and age‐integrated programs. This study compared different models of day‐support programs used by older people with intellectual disabilities. The framework for this study was the six key objectives of day‐support programs and a typology of such programs derived from the literature. Seven programs were selected as examples and data were collected during 2‐day site visits that included observation, interviews, and review of documentation. Each program was rated against indicators of the key objectives. No one program model stood out as exemplary and all had similar aims. All of the programs studied gave more emphasis to choice, social networks, and participation than they did to skill maintenance, self‐expression, and healthy lifestyle promotion. Implementation of program objectives, however, was variable reflecting different interpretations of these concepts. Traditional age‐integrated day programs and newer brokerage models both demonstrated the capacity to deliver services tailored to the individual needs of older participants, and had the advantage of not restricting choice due to age or reinforcing age‐related stereotypes.