The characteristics of intellectual disabilities are presented as significantly lower cognitive abilities and decreased adaptive skills. These normally occur in people before the age of 18 and are neurologically dependent. The ageing of people with these disabilities presents a challenge, because they struggle to adapt to the ever-changing social environment around them. The quality of life greatly differs based on where they live. Some of them live in their home environment, in contrary to the majority who are included in different residential communities, which are more developing lately. The aim of these communities is to enable the people to have a better quality of life and be included in a broader social environment. Residential communities must have well defined goals, which should be based on the better quality of life for the people with disabilities. During the process of ageing, the physical and mental abilities of those people become even more limited, therefore there is a great need for preservation of those abilities with the help of different tailor-made activities.
In our work we have cited the scientific literature and used the available direct sources to plan different activities that are suitable for an individual with intellectual disabilities. At the same time, we were focused on finding activities, which contribute to the preservation of cognitive abilities during the ageing process. The activities which we designed, are made to improve the quality of life of adults with intellectual disabilities. We used the qualitative method, namely the case study of an individual, who is a ward of Institution dr. Marijan Borštnar, Dornava. The purpose of our work was to observe the functioning of this individual in order to present his attributes and special needs, which are a result from ageing.
As a result from our work, we can assume that improving literacy is essential in the elderly with intellectual disabilities. This contributes to their self-reliance, participation and responsibility and at the same time improves their self-image. We have found out that the individual is generally very self-reliable, socially-included, resourceful and curious. This could be accredited to his active life-style. He is regularly involved in different sport activities, which have a positive impact on other areas, such as well-being, cognitive abilities and social contacts. All of these contribute to the better quality of his life. The professionals of the visited institution carefully select activities for him, paying the attention to the difficulty, in order to achieve his motivation to participate. They also adapt the learning process, which helps him to automatize and memorize quicker. However, the individual is also prone to forgetting more easily, therefore it is essential to implement lifelong learning, with the purpose of preserving his skills and knowledge and slowing down the ageing process. Our greatest contribution to his development is the set of cognitive activities, which are tailor-made for him. These activities are based on cognitive areas that influence the quality of life and prolong self-reliance.
|
