Community-Based Supports for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Summary
Community-based supports encompass a range of services and resources designed to enable individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to live, learn, work and participate fully within their communities. Such supports include person-centred planning, day activity programmes, personal assistance, vocational training, assistive technologies and inclusive social and recreational opportunities. Emphasis is placed on self-determination, promoting autonomy through individualised funding and self-directed service models. Legislation and policy frameworks—ranging from disability rights laws to home and community-based service waivers—underpin the expansion of supports beyond institutional settings and foster integration, social inclusion and improved quality of life. Recent efforts have highlighted the need to tailor services to cultural and local contexts, address workforce shortages among direct support professionals and ensure sustainable funding mechanisms. Evidence suggests that well-implemented community-based supports can reduce social isolation, enhance daily functioning and produce long-term cost savings for public health systems.
Research from Nature Portfolio
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Community-Based Supports for Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in community-based supports for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: Neurodevelopmental conditions characterised by limitations in intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviours that emerge during the developmental period.
Community-based Supports: Services and interventions delivered in non-institutional settings to promote autonomy, social inclusion and participation of individuals within their own communities.
Personalised Budgets: Funding allocations that enable individuals to direct and manage their own support services, fostering choice and control over care arrangements.
Accessibility: The degree to which built environments, services and information are designed or adapted to be usable by people with varying physical, cognitive or sensory abilities.
References
- The Effects and Costs of Personalized Budgets for People with Disabilities: A Systematic Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2022).
- The Americans with Disabilities Act and Equal Access to Public Spaces. Laws (2024).
- Peran Dinas Sosial dalam Pelayanan Disabilitas di Kabupaten Labuhanbatu. SOSMANIORA Jurnal Ilmu Sosial dan Humaniora (2023).
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