Identifying the key concerns of Irish persons with intellectual disabilities

Background Internationally, people with intellectualdisability are socially marginalized, and their rightsunder the United Nations Convention for the Rights ofPersons with Disabilities (CRPD) are often ignored.Aims This paper aims to define the key concerns ofadults with an intellectual disability in relation to theirparticipation in society using an inclusive researchstrategy for both data gathering and data analysis.Methods A national study involving 23 focus groups and168 persons was conducted on the island of Irelandwith people with intellectual disability as co-facilitators.Findings A thematic content analysis was undertaken ofthe verbatim transcripts initially by university coresearchers,and 19 themes were identified. Co-researcherswith intellectual disability joined in identifying the eightcore themes. These were as follows: living options,employment, relationships, citizenship, leisure time,money management, self-advocacy, and communication.Discussion The concerns are discussed within theframework of the CRPD, and implications for transformingservice policy are drawn.