Community integration

Community integration, while diversely defined, is a term encompassing the full participation of all people in community life. It has specifically referred to the integration of people with disabilities into US society from the local to the national level and for decades was a defining agenda in countries such as Great Britain.

In the US, the Consortium of Citizens for Disabilities advocates for a national public policy which "ensures the self-determination, independence, empowerment, integration and inclusion of children and adults with disabilities in all parts of society". Other countries (such as Canada) with different roots often spoke of inclusion: the unifying, global agenda in "disability and community life".

Theorists have differentiated types and levels of integration in special education as physical, functional, social, community and organizational. In disability circles, community integration meant opportunities for participation in schools, careers, homes, relationships, leisure, and a variety of interests and lifestyles. Bengt Nirje and the late Wolf Wolfensberger of the US are internationally known for their concept of normalization and social role valorization, with a particular emphasis on physical and social integration. Anders Gustavsson (ca. 1990) of Sweden has indicated that physical integration best describes the common use of the term "integration", with social integration the struggle for "equality and quality in life."

The intent of community integration was the participation of people with disabilities in regular environments, the antithesis of exclusionary practices (such as the minority-group model). As the field moved toward community support, theories related to community living began to require applicability beyond a minority-group model with a new emphasis on self-determination. As described by Racino, these theories include ecological theory, community-support theories, systems theory, feminist theories, family theories, sociocultural theories, critical theories in education, psychosocial theories, the generic human-concept theory and universal theories.

Taylor, in his analysis of community systems in the US, proposed the principle of non-restrictive environment as a counterpoint to the federal government's least-restrictive-environment principle. In 2014, the governing principle in the US is that of the most integrated setting based upon the Supreme Court Olmstead Decision.

Prior to the Olmstead decision, the Supreme Court addressed the community integration issues multiple times in the case, Halderman v. Pennhurst State School and Hospital, a class action filed in Pennsylvania by attorney David Ferleger. Although the Olmstead decision explicitly did not reach the constitutional issues decided in the Pennhurst and other cases, limitations in Olmstead have been critiqued and it has been argued that there is a constitutional right to community services.

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