Disability leisure: in what kind of activities, and when and how do youths with intellectual disabilities participate?

ABSTRACT

The article examines what kind of activities youths with intellectual disabilities participate in during their leisure time, and when and how they participate. The analysis is based on qualitative interviews of 10 youths with intellectual disabilities (aged 13–16) and their parents (N = 20). The study reveals that intellectually disabled youths have the same preferences and wishes for leisure activities as their non-disabled peers. Both genders prefer sports and cultural activities. However, a closer examination reveals marginalization of intellectually disabled youths from leisure activities organized for young people in general. In our society, the understanding that leisure activities are a private concern is based on the idea of the ‘normate’. The ‘normate’ emerges when we explore the social processes of participation that constitute otherness and systematically marginalize groups of people, here intellectually disabled youths, from organized leisure activities.

KEYWORDS:

• Leisure activities
• participation
• youth
• intellectual disability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Line Melbøe is an educationalist and an associate professor in the Department of Social Education at UiT, the Arctic University of Norway. She has published on disability and participation in reviewed academic journals and books.

Borgunn Ytterhus is a sociologist and a professor in Health Science at the Norwegian University of Technology and Science, NTNU. She has published on childhood and disability for years both in reviewed academic journals and books.