Research On Community-based Service Mode For Intellectual Disabled Youth Based On The Empowerment Perspective

Because of their disability and the influence of external factors, the vulnerable groups of intellectual disabled youth whose social exclusion level is deeper than that of other types of disabled. With the change of social sense on disability, the attention of social sense from intellectual disabled youth defects to focus on potential, from social exclusion to social acceptance. This change provides the value basis for the intervention of social work into the social inclusion of intellectual disabled youth. According to their special situation, achieving growth through exerting the initiative of intellectual disabled youth can have considerable difficulty, and thus the need for external forces to promote and help is crucial. In this context, the empowering intervention of social work is about to become a significant force which can help intellectual disabled youth integrate into the society, and the community-based service mode was born at right moment.This study uses the Solomon's empowerment theory to analyse the social inclusion effectiveness of the community-based service mode used by H institution for helping promote the intellectual disabled youth, and bases on the empowerment-oriented social work model which constructed by Gutierrez et al. According to the actual survey data, this study analyses the community-based service mode in-depth, and constructs the analysis framework of the empowerment practice through individual level, interpersonal level and social participation level. Finally, this study sorts out the empowering logic of the mode based on the empowerment theory, and analyses the internal and external dilemmas; also puts forward the improving suggestions.This study shows that the empowering practice of community-based service mode is to nurture the life skills and self-independent ability and self-efficiency of intellectual disabled youth at the individual level; and improve interpersonal skills and enhance parent-child relationship at the interpersonal level; what is more, in terms of social participation level, improving both the awareness of the capacity for independent living in a community and the sense of social participation. The empowering logic of community-based service mode is advocating the partnership between social workers and intellectual disabled youth; and rooting in the community and resources, to solve the problems faced by intellectual disabled youth such as employment exclusion, education exclusion, social exclusion and environmental exclusion, so as to promote the social inclusion level of intellectual disabled youth. However, the following dilemmas are still existing, internal dilemmas such as the contradiction between the lack of human resource and single case oriented, the contradiction between the practice of empowerment theory and self-determination; external dilemmas such asconceptual conflict from society and families, the lack of supportive job opportunities and the lack of formal support. This study proposes that we should improve the empowering dilemmas from the resources of intellectual disabled youth, service team construction, the concept of public advocacy and social support network construction.