Independent Living Skills
Luke Tomczuk: One of the ways that peer support can be used in research is to support independent living skills like travel training, showing people how to move around in their community.
When I was a peer supporter on a travel training study, I taught participants how to use a transpass and key cards, Google Maps and the transportation authority app. I showed patience with them as they learned how to use the bus, subway, regional rail train, and trolley.
As a peer supporter. I adjusted my usual way of teaching public transportation use to what worked for each participant. This gave them the confidence around their newly gained skills.
Even though sometimes participants were still nervous to travel, they still got something out of the interventions, and it led to more independence.
Peer supporters can also recognize when it's helpful to give participants more independence as they practice traveling on their own. One participant I worked with took the bus to the pizza shop. We traveled to the pizza shop together and then he walked home by himself. He gained the confidence to walk home alone because of the peer support I gave him.
Another participant wanted to go to a donut shop in her neighborhood but we could not find any. She immediately wanted to go home and cancel future travel training sessions, but she still learned how to use her transpass, and went on community outings she hadn't previously. Personally, this experience taught me that not all participants will have positive experiences, and some will be more support to meet their goals.
Working with all kinds of participants makes interventionists more skilled at supporting people with IDD.
Independent living skills help young adults manage everyday responsibilities for life after high school.
Independent living skills include being able to:
- Get around the community
- Cook
- Manage money
- Take care of yourself and how you feel
Including community members, like young adults with IDD, on research teams can help them build independent living skills. For example, they can learn how to manage their time. They can learn to be on time and prepared for scheduled research meetings. They can also contribute to research, to improve people’s ability to take care of themselves and how they feel. This can help them get and keep jobs.
“Community-based participatory research can be [used] to promote the employability of people on the autism spectrum through building resilience...[this means] “bouncing back” and making personal [changes] to achieve [goals].”1
Go to the next page to learn more about Figuring out what Works.
1. Farkas, Tibor & Mendy, John & Kargas, Niko. (2020). Farkas, T., Mendy, J. & Kargas, N. (2020) Enhancing resilience in autistic adults. Advances in Developing Human Resources.