Jenny Rosendahl

Title:

Influence and Participation for Young Adults who have Intellectual Disabilities in the Social Arenas and Democratic Processes of the Local Community.
A participant-based action research study.

To achieve citizenship, all citizens need to be able to make their voices heard. Policy and practice in the welfare society stress that all citizens should be included, but in reality, people who have intellectual disabilities are often excluded.
The overall purpose of the thesis was to study how young adults with intellectual disabilities experienced to have influence and participation in the local community and what experiences and processes that arose through the creation of a social arena in the form of influence cafés.
The research aimed to study how the implementation of an organized meeting place on three occasions (influence cafés) was experienced in terms of having influence for young adults with intellectual disabilities and how participation in a municipality's leisure activities, cultural activities, and democratic processes was experienced by young adults who have an intellectual disability.
The study was conducted as participatory action research together with seven co-researchers who all were young adults with intellectual disabilities. The empirical data was collected in one Swedish municipality. The data constituted of that seven co-researchers took part in two single interviews, three focus groups interviews, and three actions. The staff from the municipality took part in a focus group interview and a survey. In order to support dialogues with the co-researchers, the method Talking Mats was used during the single interviews, and during the focus groups interviews photographs were used. All interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. In order to process data and gain insight into data, the data material was coded in Nvivo.
The theoretical starting points for the dissertation were theories of citizenship, participation, and situated learning with sub-theories. The theory about citizenship addresses issues related to the theory of normalization and exclusion, capability, and empowerment. The theory about participation concern sub-theories as Arnstein's ladder of citizen participation and intersectionality. The theory about situated learning addresses how joint learning takes place in the implementation of the influence café method.
The results showed that the young adults with intellectual disabilities experienced exclusion in culture, democracy, and leisure activities. The results showed that the young adults with intellectual disabilities had difficulties being able to participate and to be able to gain influence as citizens. The results also showed that when staff from the municipality was given a method and
the opportunity to reflect on involving young adults with ID in decision making, a change of their attitudes towards a more inclusive direction was achieved.
Conclusively, when young adults with ID are allowed to express their thoughts, they can have a significant impact on the organization of a municipality’s culture, leisure, and democracy activities. Together, staff and young adults with ID can create a significant change in society and take it in a more inclusive direction for all citizens.
Keywords: Intellectual disability, young adults, participatory action research, citizenship, participation, situated learning