**Exploring Community Attitudes to People with Learning Disabilities: Using a Micro-Neighbourhood Design Exploring Community Attitudes to People with Learning Disabilities: Using a Micro-Neighbourhood Design**

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.69388

Margaret Denny, Suzanne Denieffe and Majda Pajnkihar Majda Pajnkihar Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Margaret Denny, Suzanne Denieffe and

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.69388

#### **Abstract**

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184 Learning Disabilities - An International Perspective

(2):749-758

People with learning disabilities living in the community strive for meaningful social inclusion and integration. The attitudes of society to such individuals living in communities continues to be the catalyst that will enable them to achieve genuine social inclusion and integration. Identified barriers to social inclusion are a lack of change in societal attitudes towards people with learning disabilities. People with learning disabilities should live in a socially, not just functionally, integrated manner in community settings. Hence, attitudes of the community are extremely influential in achieving social integration and inclusion. It is important therefore to plan how best to capture attitudes in fact. An exemplar of a completed comparative study in Ireland, which used a micro-neighbourhood design combined with a random survey, illustrates how attitudes can be researched effectively. Study findings show that while attitudes were generally positive towards people with learning disabilities, there was no evidence of social integration, only functional integration. These findings reflect the challenges of achieving authentic social inclusion and integration and warrant further exploration by government agencies and service providers for people with learning disabilities. The study design outlined can contribute to gaining a true insight of societal attitudes.

**Keywords:** attitudes, community, learning disabilities, social inclusion, micro-neighbourhood

#### **1. Introduction**

Today, people with learning disabilities live in the community and strive for meaningful social inclusion [1]. The attitudes of society to such individuals living in communities continue to be the catalyst that will enable them to achieve genuine social inclusion

and integration [2]. Debenham [3] identified a barrier to social inclusion as the slow or complete lack of change in attitude from people in society towards people with learning disabilities. This paradigm of care, which focuses on community living and social integration, is however influenced by the attitudes of the general public [3]. In attitude research, expressed opinions may not be the views in fact held by respondents, but views in principle only [4]. Presence without participation can be more isolating than no presence at all [5]. Over the last number of years, there have been significant advances in the growth and development of services in the community for people with learning disabilities worldwide. Contemporary evidence-based practice has focused on the philosophy of social inclusion for people with learning disabilities living in the community [6, 7]. This philosophy is based on the proposition that the quality of life of a person with a disability increases as access to culturally typical activities and settings increases.

The chapter will firstly provide a brief discussion on the move from institutional to community care for people with learning disabilities. It then explores attitudes and the possible influences of these attitudes towards people with learning disabilities. This will then be followed by an exploration of researching attitudes. An exemplar of a completed study in Ireland, which utilized a randomized survey combined with a micro-neighbourhood design, will then be discussed.
