Adult children with learning disabilities living with aging parents

Hagan, Robert ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1184-229X (2024) Adult children with learning disabilities living with aging parents. In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Disability. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, pp. 1-10. ISBN 9783031408588

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Abstract

As they reach adulthood, adult children with learning disabilities often continue to reside with parents, with this arrangement being unquestioned until health declines in later life lead to anxieties about where adult children should live. This chapter explores why there may be reluctance from aging parents to pursue alternative living arrangements earlier and how this may lead to uncomfortable decision-making processes, as well as inadvertently reducing the range of housing options available. Parents’ attitudes, too, in terms of promoting their children’s capabilities can result in an underappreciation of how they can successfully live independently or in other supported living settings. There is also a recognition that the quest to obtain information and guidance for families is challenging and that future care plans are rarely transparent, leading to a potential mismatch between what is expected from formal and informal actors in future arrangements. This chapter largely reports upon the UK context, with some reflection on international studies.