Leaving no-one behind: using assistive technology to enhance community living for people with intellectual disability

Many people with intellectual disability (ID) are no longer isolated in “special care” facilities. Some settings such as the Scandinavian countries, North America and the UK have long experience in community living for people with ID. Others, such as Ireland, are currently moving people into community living [1,2]. Research has shown that deinstitutionalization (relocation of individuals with ID from institutional to community settings) can enhance their inclusion and wellbeing (8–10). A review of the literature on deinstitutionalization of care and support, covering research from 1997 to 2007, found that community living enhances interpersonal relationships, access to community services and self-determination, compared to living in large institutions [1]. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) [3], a culmination of the normalization drive, enshrines community living for people with ID; people with all types of disabilities must enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms; all people with disabilities, should be part of the normal societal processes such as education, employment, housing, socialization and access to all societal services. In particular Article 19 of UNCRPD highlights the right to community living by all people with disabilities, a right to choose where and with whom to live, and a right to support to ensure social inclusion [2]. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [4], which reinvigorates the Millennium Development Goals [5], aims to “leave no one” behind through inclusion of all people, including those with ID who are among the most vulnerable to social exclusion [6]. It follows that then that people should not be “left behind”, either through exclusion in institutions, or through isolation in the community