Leisure experiences of young adults with developmental disabilities: A case study

The aim of several human service professions is to enhance the quality of life of individuals with developmental disabilities, through the use of interventions such as recreation and leisure services. These services are often based on the Normalization Principle. The concepts of quality of life and leisure are subjective in nature, and therefore are interpreted indifferent ways by different people. The purpose of this study was to determine how young adults with developmental disabilities perceive their own leisure experiences.; Semi-structured, face to face, in-depth interviews were conducted with ten individuals (ages 21 to 32 years) who have developmental disabilities. Each participant was interviewed twice. In addition, the parent or parent(s) of these individuals were interviewed. All ten of the participants in this study live, work, and play in a variety of settings with different levels of support. All of them are white; live in an upper-middle-class, suburban area of a moderate-size city in the heartland of America; and have supportive families.; Using constant comparison, several themes emerged from the data. The two most prevalent themes suggest that the leisure experiences of these individuals are existential and social in nature. These young adults with developmental disabilities seem to establish a hierarchy of preferences regarding activities and social interaction. Most of the participants in this study prefer spending time with friends and family.; Grounded theory and symbolic interactionism were used to guide this study. The leisure experiences of this population appeared to be based on the interactions that these individuals have with others, which is consistent with the ideas of symbolic interactionism. Grounded theory was used to generate a model that describes how the leisure experiences of this population involve internal and external dimensions. Overall, the leisure experiences of young adults with developmental disabilities reflect the leisure experiences of young adults without developmental disabilities.