This master’s thesis is based on research that I conducted with persons with intellectual disabilities, who are taking part in various services of VDC Tončke Hočevar or VDC Želva, and with employees in these two institutions. The purpose of the research was to investigate the social networks and social lives of persons with intellectual disabilities. In the theoretical introduction, I explained and broke down the very negative and even hostile attitude that society had throughout history towards persons with intellectual disabilities. Further I explained that this attitude only began to change with the development of the deinstitutionalisation movement. In the formulation of the problem, I stated the purpose of the research, which was to investigate the social networks and social lives of persons with intellectual disabilities and which factors influence the size of their social networks and the activity of their social lives. In the methodological part, I defined the type of research as qualitative and empirical. In this research I had two populations. The first population was made up of persons with intellectual disabilities who have been taking part in institutional care and/or employment program under special conditions or day care for at least 3 years. The second population was made up of employees of VDC Želva and VDC Tončke Hočevar who have been working with persons with intellectual disabilities for at least 3 years and have a great deal of personal contact with these individuals. The data collection method was oral partially standardized questioning within focus groups. The measurement instrument were the guidelines for the focus groups with people with intellectual disabilities and with employees of the VDC Želva and VDC Tončke Hočevar.
The results of the research showed that the social networks and social lives of persons with intellectual disabilities are influenced by several factors – the type and level of intellectual disability of an individual, their age and different services that they are taking part in. Consequently, when talking about persons with intellectual disabilities, we cannot generalize, as they differ greatly from each other due to the before mentioned factors. The results also showed that social contact and friendships are very important for these individuals, and that they are more than capable of maintaining them. Secondly, the results also showed that romantic partnerships are important for a large number of persons with intellectual disabilities and they want to have, currently have or have had a romantic partner in the past. Thirdly, the results showed that persons with intellectual disabilities are well informed about the topic of sexuality both by the employees in the institutions in which they are taking part in different services and by their family members and/or their care takers. Although the living conditions for persons with disabilities have improved significantly as the result of deinstitutionalisation and the concept of independent living, discrimination against these individuals is still present and very clear today in the area of their social lives, more specifically in the area of their love lives and sexuality. Lastly, the results showed that it is the parents and guardians of persons with intellectual disabilities who infantilize them the most and underestimate their abilities to develop friendships, partnerships and sexual relationships.
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