2019 TASH Conference

Diverse and Inclusive Communities are hollow without friendships, romantic relationships, safety, and sexuality. For generations, people with disabilities have been sexually abused, denied romantic relationships and healthy intimacy. Using an educational video (Mike's Crush) and a mechanism to identify healthy and unhealthy situations and behavior students and adults have learned these skills. This author has taught relationship skills, NOT social skills to a wide range of people with intellectual disabilities and autism in schools and in their homes for the past 10 years. The Mike's Crush video and the "Creepy Meter" provide adolescents and adults a mechanism to identify safe and unsafe behavior and situations in themselves and others. These skills facilitate and support safe friendships, romantic relationships, and for some intimacy, touch, and sex. A participant in this healthy relationships program will discuss how it works and its impact on her.

Attachment theory, first studied in the context of the infant-primary caregiver relationship, has provided a useful framework for understanding couple functioning. Interactions between infants and their caregivers help form internal working models of relationships that inform whether they view themselves as worthy of love as well as whether they perceive attachment figures as responsive, sensitive, and trustworthy (Bowlby, 1988). Attachment insecurity exists on a spectrum, with anxious attachment indicating fears of abandonment, relationship worry, and a magnified need for emotional reassurance from a romantic partner (Bartholomew et al., 1997). On the opposite end of the spectrum, avoidant attachment represents a discomfort with intimacy and relationship closeness, difficulty with self-disclosure and emotional vulnerability (Shaver & Mikulincer, 2012). Research has revealed that couples with secure attachment style may benefit from outcomes such as long lasting, high quality relationships characterized by substantial levels of trust, more positive emotions, and less conflict (Givertz, et al., 2013). Higher levels of avoidance and/or anxiety, however, are associated with lower levels of interpersonal trust, lower relationship quality, greater frequency of negative emotions and conflict, and loneliness in marriage (Givertz, et al., 2013). There are also fundamental differences in the way couples handle conflict based on individual attachment styles (Gouin et al., 2009). Therefore, attachment dynamics in couple relationships have provided vital information for therapists and a foundation for many therapy modalities. For those with intellectual disabilities (ID), romantic relationships are an extremely understudied topic (English, Tickle & dasNair, 2018) and attachment styles, relationship satisfaction, longevity, and quality are relatively ignored altogether (Fulford & Cobigo, 2018). Ignoring these areas of human development and functioning for adults with ID can have devastating impacts on their overall health and well-being. While adult attachment has been studied between individuals with disabilities and their parents (Schuengel et al., 2013), there is a need to develop a further understanding of this issue for couples and the impact it has on individual well-being and positive relationship experiences. This understanding can help couples with ID as well as family members and staff work more comprehensively with adults with ID. The current presentation will provide an overview of attachment theory, alongside a review of the unique factors that define couples with ID. Using a systemic perspective, this presentation will highlight a framework for applying an attachment-based understanding of couples with ID. This framework will be discussed and methods for applying this understanding to individuals and couples will be provided.

Although there are vast benefits of experiencing healthy intimate relationships in adulthood (Beckes & Coan, 2011; Cacioppo & Patrick, 2008; Moos, 2003; Robles, 2014), adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are often denied these experiences (English et al., 2018; Fulford & Cobigo, 2018). This can often be due to restrictions placed on them from parents and other caregivers (Black & Kammes, 2019). However, these restrictions do not deter adults with ID from desiring intimate relationship experiences, leading to many of them engaging in secretive and often exploitative relationships (Black & Kammes, 2019; English et al., 2018). Despite this known pattern, there is still a gap in our understanding of the role parents/caregivers specifically play in their adult child's experiences of intimate relationships. This study used a systems theory and social model of disability approach to examine the role that parents/caregivers play in the creation and maintenance of intimate relationships for adults with IDD. This was done by asking parents who have an adult child with IDD, as well as a typically developing (TD) adult child, to compare their experiences between these two adult children. A mixed methods design including an online survey with 50 parents nationwide, as well as follow-up phone/video conferencing interviews with a subset of 20 parents was used. The findings of this study exhibit 5 main themes: 1) differing levels of parental involvement; 2) differing parental expectations; 3) differing parental roles; 4) parents as "gatekeepers" for intimate experiences of individuals with ID; and 5) barriers to romantic relationships for individuals with ID. This presentation will discuss the key findings of the current study and provide important implications of the study for adults with IDD, their parents/caregivers, and others who work with them. Further information on defining and working with couples with IDD will also be presented.

Young people with disabilities who are included in their schools and communities alongside their nondisabled peers are more likely to lead inclusive lives as adults. As family members and allies of the disability community, we believe it is our obligation to foster an inclusive mindset and expectation within our society. Our presentation will discuss what inclusion looks like from infancy to adulthood, with a special emphasis on the inclusion of social roles, behaviors, personality, the value of high expectations, wants and needs, the importance of expecting and including the WHOLE person in decision-making, teaching, and caregiving, and how this all affects people with disabilities, their communities, and vice versa.

Courtney is a young woman who belongs to a real community of friends and family in her town in rural Maine. Her connections are not accidental, but the result of intentional and consistent efforts by her family and supporters. In this presentation, Courtney's Mom will share how building community with her daughter started shortly after birth and continues every day. "Community" is not a location, or a place for an outing. Community is a fellowship of people connected by interests, passions, attitudes, and goals.