Onderzoek sociale inclusie personen met een beperking in een beschutte woonomgeving

July 2016, the Netherlands signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The UN Convention focuses on promoting participation and a more inclusive society. But how do you give shape to participation and social inclusion for people who live in a sheltered living environment? Isn't living in a sheltered living environment at odds with the idea of social inclusion and participation?

The project 'Social inclusion and the UN convention' will map out how the UN convention can be elaborated for people with intellectual and/or multiple disabilities who live, work, learn and recreate in a sheltered living environment. Insight will be gained into what living in an institutional setting means for the development opportunities of these people and how social inclusion takes shape.

To this end we are conducting research with and at six care institutions throughout the Netherlands that offer sheltered living/working environments to people with a mental and/or multiple disability: Prisma, Nieuw Woelwijck, OlmenEs, Van Boeijen, De Seizoenen and Reinaerde. The researchers will work with people with disabilities and their carers to experience how 'social inclusion' takes shape and has meaning in their lives. Family members and supervisors will also be interviewed. The aim is to gain insight into the experiences and perceptions of people with disabilities, family members and those involved, and to experience these experiences as much as possible. All research data collected will be processed anonymously.