Findings
Social Participation
Older people with intellectual disabilities continued to be more socially excluded than their counterparts in the general population; while those with severe-profound levels of ID and those living in institutional settings remain the most excluded across practically all measures.
Overall there has been a decrease in the number of older people with ID who live in close proximity to their family members.
Respondents with the most frequent family contact continued to be male, younger, with milder levels of ID and living in community settings; respondents with severe-profound ID and those living in institutional settings continued to have the least family contact.
The vast majority of respondents had friends (92.4%, n=560), the most common type being a co-resident friend (71.8%, n=402); however, a majority also reported they had friends outside their home (62.0%, n=347), and a similar number reported their keyworker/support staff were their friends (62.5%, n=350).
Just over half (56.6%, n=317) reported that they had a best friend and almost two-thirds (63.2%, n=187) said that their best friend was someone with an intellectual disability.
Three-quarters of respondents (77.6%, n=256) had contact at least once a week with nonresident friends and a further (10.9% n=36) had monthly contact; overall the rate of regular contacts increased by 4.8% between Waves 2 and 3.
The vast majority of older people with ID continue to engage in a broad range of social activities and most do these activities within their local communities; while the most popular organisations were ‘Sports, Social or Leisure Club’, ‘Arts or Music’ and ‘Advocacy Group’. ‘Special Olympics’ fell from the first to fourth most popular between Waves 1 and 3.
There was a significant drop in the rate of giving support to family between Wave 2 (17.6%, n=118) and Wave 3 (11.9% n=68); while there was a small increase in the rate of helping friends and neighbours; however, older people with ID continued to have lower rates of providing help and support than the general older population.
Four out of five respondents reported a sense of belonging to their local community.
Older people with ID continue to be dependent on others for their transport, in contrast to the general older population. Overall, 92.7% (n=523) were driven as a passenger (just one person reported driving themselves), while just 29.7% (n=145) used bus transport.
The vast majority of respondents (96.4%, n=556) said that the day activity they described was what they had wanted to do.
Just over a quarter of respondents felt that a lack of transport facilities in their area affected their lifestyle (25.2%, n=111), and that they would like to use more public transport (26.7%, n=106).
Half of respondents (50.0%, n=294) reported they had not spent any full days at home in the previous week, and a further 17% (n=100) spent just one full day at home; however, 6.1% (n=36) had not left the house at all in the previous week; while most who did not leave the house for at least one day had to stay at home for reasons other than their choice.