People with intellectual disability often experience challenges in their lives. These may be due to difficulties in social adaptation, but may also be related to a reality of disempowerment whereby they have little role in the decisions central to their lives or in the provision of health, educational and social services. This book argues for alternative and innovative approaches to leadership in intellectual disability service provision. It does this in the light of service scandals including Winterborne View (UK), Oswald D. Heck (USA), Áras Attracta (Ireland) and many others. This book also explores the failed leadership issues underpinning such debacles and then examines how the context for intellectual disability service provision has changed. The authors propose alternative models for service leadership that are contiguous with the changed landscape, emphasizing participatory models of leadership and ending with exemplary vignettes outlining situations where such innovative change is happening.
About the Author: Dr. Elizabeth A. Curtis
School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Dublin,
Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2. Ireland.
Elizabeth is a member of the academic team in the School
of Nursing and Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin. She qualified
as a general nurse in London and worked in the discipline
of neurosciences in the National Health Service (NHS).
Her research interests are varied and include job satisfaction
and leadership. Published books include Research Success
in Nursing and Health Care: A Guide to Doing Your Higher
Degree (2008), Delegation: A Short Primer for the Practicing
Nurse (2009), Quantitative Health Research: Issues and Methods
(2013) and Leadership and Change for the Health Professional
(2017). Five years ago, Elizabeth set up a Leadership Network
Group to promote and expand work on leadership in nursing.
curtise@tcd.ie
Dr. Fintan Sheerin
School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Dublin,
Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2. Ireland.
Fintan is Associate Professor in and Head of Intellectual
Disability Nursing at the School of Nursing and Midwifery in
Trinity College Dublin. His research has largely focused on
engagement, accessibility and well-being, seeking to address
the issues which impact on both. He leads the mental health
component of IDS-TILDA and is guiding the analysis of data
gathered to date and exploring the future focus of data in that
regard. Fintan is a social activist in respect of various groups
of people who find themselves on the margins of society.
He was the consultant to the Irish RTÉ television documentary,
Inside Bungalow 3, which exposed abuse of people with
an intellectual disability at Áras Attracta leading to successful
prosecutions. He has published widely, spoken at many
international conferences and has contributed to a number of
books. He is a Fellow of the European Academy of Nursing
Science.
sheerinf@tcd.ie
