The recreational pursuits of mentally handicapped adults

The parents or care-givers of over 200 mentally handicapped adults, living at home in the city of Dublin, were interviewed as to how their son or daughter spent their leisure time. The picture that emerged was of a sheltered existence within the community. Mostly their activities were passive and solitary in nature - watching T. V.; listening to radio or records. Nearly half of the sample did not take part in any activity outside of the family; only one third took part in the community activity and only one fifth were reported to have non-handicapped friends. It would appear that parents are willing for this to continue, in that they had few suggestions for new activities; they felt their son or daughter was not interested and most thought that recreational activities should be supervised. It is argued that services should teach leisure skills in the same systematic and structured way as for other areas of the curriculum. This should reassure parents and help to ensure that mentally handicapped people not only live in the community but that they can participate in community activities.