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Position statement on housing and support for people with severe or profound intellectual disability

This position statement was developed collaboratively by members of the Annual Roundtable on Intellectual Disability Policy in Victoria (Bigby & Fyffe, 2007; Bigby, Fyffe, & Mansell, 2006). It attempts to set out what people with severe or profound intellectual disability might expect in terms of housing and support if the principles embedded in contemporary disability policy, such as the 2006 United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities (United Nations, 2006), the 2002 Victorian State Disability Plan (Disability Services Division, 2002), and the 2001 UK white paper Valuing People (Department of Health, 2001), are implemented. These principles emphasise citizenship, rights and the importance of achieving empowerment, community inclusion, and participation for all people with disabilities. The position statement highlights the issues that require particular attention for people with severe and profound intellectual disability. They are expressed primarily in terms of the outcomes desired for individuals. It is not a description of the shape or nature of the service system which is the means to achieve these outcomes. The components of housing and support described are in many ways identical for all people with disabilities but their application to this group is seldom illustrated or considered. Without specific representation, people with the highest housing and support needs are in danger of exclusion in the implementation of disability policy and are also likely to be relegated to inappropriate or inferior living arrangements. Without somewhere to live with sufficient support, aspirations about empowerment, community inclusion, and participation are meaningless.