IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jdisab/v5y2025i2p50-d1668176.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Complex Matter of Requesting Support—Experiences of Persons with Intellectual Disability

Author

Listed:
  • Ann-Marie Öhrvall

    (Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Occupational Therapy, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden)

  • Margret Buchholz

    (Department of Health and Rehabilitation, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden
    DART Centre for AAC and AT, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, 413 45 Gothenburg, Sweden)

  • Annika Sköld

    (Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Occupational Therapy, Karolinska Institutet, 171 77 Stockholm, Sweden)

Abstract

In Sweden, persons with intellectual disability have a legal right to support in everyday life, including housing with support and participation in daily activities, but government reports show that many do not receive the support they need or would prefer. The aim of this study was to explore how persons with intellectual disability experience and reflect upon support in everyday life. Thirteen adults with mild intellectual disability participated in one to three interviews each. Content analysis yielded an overarching theme “Persons with intellectual disability request two different forms of support” and three themes: “Support requested to achieve independence”, “Challenges in requesting support”, and “Mutual support in a safe environment”. The study shows that persons with intellectual disability can be hindered in requesting and obtaining support due to both internal factors and support persons’ inability to provide support in a way that is acceptable to the person with intellectual disability. Persons with intellectual disability adapt to the support person to receive support without burdening them. Persons with intellectual disability also strive to become more independent in everyday life. Being situated in a context where mutual support is a natural part of the social life is found to be optimal.

Suggested Citation

  • Ann-Marie Öhrvall & Margret Buchholz & Annika Sköld, 2025. "The Complex Matter of Requesting Support—Experiences of Persons with Intellectual Disability," Disabilities, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-18, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jdisab:v:5:y:2025:i:2:p:50-:d:1668176
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7272/5/2/50/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2673-7272/5/2/50/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jdisab:v:5:y:2025:i:2:p:50-:d:1668176. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.