Abstract:
Adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) are an under studied and an underserved population, especially in regards to social experiences and social supports. This study aimed to use a self-reporting model to provide adults with ID a sense of agency and control asking them about their own social experiences and how they feel about the social supports they receive from their caregivers. This pilot study calls for further research into this important topic as it was found that even those individuals with increased familial support experience loneliness with this study finding 62.5% of participants experiencing loneliness. Adults with ID desire and are requesting more social supports to expand their social networks, increase frequency of social supports given, and more attention to the importance of social supports.