Normalization (people with disabilities)

"The normalization principle means making available to all people with disabilities patterns of life and conditions of everyday living which are as close as possible to the regular circumstances and ways of life or society." Normalization is a rigorous theory of human services, often applied in disability arenas, however, with a base in the early 1970s, pre-deinstitutionalization period in the US; however, it is one of the strongest and long lasting integration theories in severe disabilities in the world.

Normalization involves the acceptance of some people with disabilities, with their disabilities, offering them the same conditions as are offered to other citizens. It involves an awareness of the normal rhythm of life – including the normal rhythm of a day, a week, a year, and the life-cycle itself (e.g., celebration of holidays; workday and weekends). It involves the normal conditions of life – housing, schooling, employment, exercise, recreation and freedom of choice previously denied to individuals with severe, profound or significant disabilities.

Wolfensberger's definition is based on a concept of cultural normativeness: "Utilization of a means which are as culturally normative as possible, in order to establish and/or maintain personal behaviors and characteristics that are as culturally normative as possible." Thus, for example, "medical procedures" such as shock treatment or restraints, are not just punitive, but also not "culturally normative" in society. His principle is based upon social and physical integration, which later became popularized, implemented and studied in services as community integration encompassing areas from work to recreation and living arrangement.

This theory includes "the dignity of risk", rather than an emphasis on "protection" and is based upon the concept of integration in community life. The theory is one of the first to examine comprehensively both the individual and the service systems, similar to theories of human ecology which were competitive in the same period.

The theory undergirds the deinstitutionalization and community integration movements, and forms the legal basis for affirming rights to education, work, community living, medical care and citizenship. In addition, self-determination theory could not develop without this conceptual academic base to build upon and critique.

The theory of social role valorization is closely related to the principle of normalization having been developed with normalization as a foundation. This theory retains most aspects of normalization concentrating on socially valued roles and means, in socially valued contexts to achieve integration and other core quality of life values.

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