Reside Residential Care was established to provide habilitative services—that is, to teach independent living and social skills—to Developmentally and Intellectually Disabled adults. We focus strongly on what people are capable of, building confidence, and enhancing and adding to the skills that our clients have. Of course, the individuals we support vary greatly from person to person. Some of these individuals need more physical assistance than others, and some need help and support to develop their own social skills further. Occasionally, the skills being developed revolve around the concept of sexual offenses and working to obtain healthy relationship skills and an understanding of healthy sexual interactions. And I know what you might be thinking; sexual offenses!? Allow me to explain.
The American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD) is a leading group in the modern understanding of social work with DD/ID individuals. On February fourth, they published, on their website, an audio version of a conference held in New Mexico led by Jason Buckles, a specialist in Special Education working on his doctorates. Having worked with many DD/ID individuals who have sexually offended, he spoke to an audience of those involved in the social working aspect of the DD/ID community. He encouraged everyone to think about these questions: What is a sexual offense? How do we determine what is an offense? How can we prevent this? Should we be preventing this? What can we do to help the situation in its entirety? And these are great questions, especially since, as he goes on to state, the definitions of sexual offenses have changed over the centuries and even changes between the perspectives of different people. So how can these varying definitions affect the human rights of DD/ID sexual “offenders?” Well, there are two individuals who speak on the subject and offer rather interesting perspectives on the it. Conway starts by stating:
“[O]ur culture’s inability, or refusal, to deal with the very real sexual needs of [people with intellectual disability] has been the primary impediment to every farsighted ideological proposal since Wilbur’s advocacy of community placement in the 1850s.”
And the role that caretakers and other forms of supported living staff play in this sabotage of basic human rights is monumental. Prescott joins the conversation and adds:
“It can be easy to feel an urgent need to use whatever means are necessary to reduce risks as quickly as possible. It can be easy for professionals to lose sight of just how much power they hold over people in their charge. Finally, it can be easy to believe that one is not capable of causing harm to people in our care…”
Indeed, the question remains; how can the community strive to assist those DD and ID individuals who struggle with developing and maintaining social skills and healthy relationships? Buckles suggests we follow in the footsteps of New Mexico’s Preliminary Risk Screening (PRS) and Assessment of Risk and Manageability of Individuals with Developmental and Intellectual Limitations who Offend–Sexually (ARMIDILO-S), which analyzes clientele and provides information for people like us, supported living staff, to provide the best care for them as possible!
The next blog focuses on what the PRS and ARMIDILO-S covers. How these ideals began, what they stemmed from, and how they influence Reside’s procedures in providing care will be covered in the next blog!
