“Help Me to Decide”: A Study of Human Rights-Based Supported Decision Making With Persons With Intellectual Disabilities

Decision-making is the basis for individual autonomy and societal participation. To

support persons’ human right to make life decisions, the model of supported decision-making

(SDM) has evolved and complies with Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the

Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Models for implementing SDM and outcomes

achieved by applying SDM in community settings remain insufficiently explored. This study

used a human rights perspective with participatory, qualitative research methods to investigate

environmental conditions and social support measures that enabled persons with intellectual

disabilities (ID) to make and implement their own decisions. Data gathered were six months of

field notes about implementing SDM in a L’Arche day activity program with 26 adults with ID,

with opinions and drawings illustrating persons’ decision-making. All data were analyzed

thematically. As a result of using the SDM intervention, persons with ID became more

expressive, able to discuss and debate options, participated in organizational and municipal

decision-making, and expressed “joy” and feeling “more like a human.” Staff supporters found

SDM fulfilling and noticed it increased the sense of ownership persons with ID experienced in

individual and group meetings. An organizational environment that respects human dignity,

supports sustained relationships between persons with ID and decision-supporters,

individualizes SDM depending on how persons can communicate, and encourages staff selfreflection

about prejudices and positionality is essential for implementing SDM with persons

with ID. SDM processes shift oppressive social narratives and policies in the direction of a

social, relational model of the decision-making capacities and competencies of persons with ID.