School of Sociology and Social Policy

A qualitative study of the self-advocacy movement for people with the label 'intellectual disability' in Malta

Planned Submission Date: 31 October 2010

This thesis will analyse how people with intellectual disability in Malta construct their identity and talk about their lives, how non-disabled people construct the label ‘intellectual disability’, and how the former use self-advocacy to combat the deleterious effects of this label.

This research will be carried out within the context of the overall aim of exploring critically the main socio/cultural forces that influence the ascription of, and responses to, the label ‘intellectual disability’ in Malta, and the formation, development, aims and objectives of the Maltese self-advocacy movement for people so labelled from the perspective of members of that movement, parents/carers and service providers.

In order to address this aim, the following research questions will be addressed:

• What are the main factors that influence the application of the label ‘intellectual disability’ in Malta?
• How is the label ‘intellectual disability’ interpreted and understood by people labelled in this way?
• How is the label ‘intellectual disability’ interpreted and understood by parents/carers and service providers?
• What are the principal forces that influence the formation and development of the self-advocacy movement for people with ‘intellectual disability’ in Malta?
• What are the key aims and objectives of the self-advocacy movement for people with ‘intellectual disability’ in Malta?

Data will be gathered from the monthly meetings of a Focus Group made up of 12 persons with intellectual disability, individual interviews with the Focus Group members and interviews with service providers and representatives of NGOs.