(“We all have a disabled part in us”. From the custodian paradigm towards the social model of disability)

Abstract

The international treaties on the living conditions of people with disabilities clearly support the need to move towards a social model of disabilities that decentralizes its focus from harm and concentrates it on how the barriers of the environment limit the full development of people with disabilities. In the specific case of people with intellectual disabilities, the custodian paradigm they have lived under is far from stimulating some of the general principles of these treaties.
The research, carried out in the Dr. Manuel Montes de Oca National Colony, aims to show how in the foundation of the institution there are aspects that may explain the persistence of the custodial-asylum model, under the belief that moral treatment and labor therapy, successful strategies at the beginning of the last century, could be the only ways to manage disability. Likewise, a brief outline is drawn on the process before and after deinstitutionalization practices, started in 2004, to show how the asylum culture has permeated the attitudes and behaviors of those who assist people with intellectual disabilities. Finally, testimonies are presented that show the first steps towards a care model that contemplates the dignity of the person in the decision-making process.
The methodology used is qualitative in nature, using interviews, observations and a focus group carried out in situ, both for internees and the staff assisting them.
The work concludes by presenting evidence that the implementation of some basic principles in the defense of their human rights -such as autonomy, dignity and independence and the possibility of making their own decisions- can only be put into practice with the help from competent personnel, suitably trained to support the person with intellectual disabilities.