MENTAL HANDICAP VOL. 13 DECEMBER 1985

With time to spare: the leisure pursuits of people with mental handicaps

Dorothy Atkinson

SUMMARY. The author draws on recent research findings to answer the general question, “What do people with mental handicaps, living in the community, do in their spare time?”. The paper examines whether their leisure activities bring them into contact with ordinary people and promote their social integration into local communities.

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There is an established interest in the spare time activities of people with mental handicaps who live in the community. Edgerton’s classic study (1967) states: “The use of leisure time indicates be t t e r t h a n any th ing else t h e r ichness o r impoverishment of their lives”. More recently Tyne (1978) found that the group home residents in his study “appeared to lead cur ious ly uns t imula t ing l ives”. T h i s appa ren t impoverishment, the “TV in the evenings” pattern (Tyne, 1978), suggests a tendency towards home-based and passive activity.

There appear to be two factors which contribute to the assumed “impoverishment” of the lives of people with mental handicaps. The first is their segregation, initially in a hospital setting where they learned to be passive consumers of entertainment, and later in a community setting, perhaps a group home with linked ATC place and Gateway Club membership. T h e present author concluded elsewhere (Atkinson, 1983) that a person who is mentally handicapped, even in the community, can “live a life almost exclusively within the confines of mental handicap subgroups, drawing support from designated carers and handicapped peers”. This is echoed by Malin (1982) who concludes: “The evidence showed how group home residents depend mainly on the support provided through official networks”.

The second factor is their self-perception, particularly in relation to the world of people without handicaps. People who are mentally handicapped may find it difficult to cross the threshold into ordinary life. The author has pinpointed elsewhere (Atkinson, 1982) the problem of those “who lack the confidence to infiltrate far into normal leisure settings”. This problem is confirmed by Wertheimer (1983), who suggests there may be “a need to help people use their leisure”.

Leisure activities offer people with mental handicaps the possibility of contact with others, thereby setting in train natural, local integrative processes. The aim is integration, the establishment of “a network of social contacts and reciprocal relationships from among the valued, or non-handicapped, members of society” (Atkinson, 1983). More specifically, Wertheimer (1983) identifies a goal of “social integration”, which can enable people with mental handicaps to join in neighbourhood life and become part of it.

The research This article is based on the findings of a recent research

project (Atkinson, 1984) which traced the fortunes of people discharged from mental handicap hospitals into the community.

The final survey involved 50 people, 26 men and 24 women, aged between 29 and 74. The main criterion for inclusion in the research group was that the person had been discharged to an independent living situation. At the time of the follow-up, people lived in a variety of settings, including flats, bungalows, cottages, and houses; and in a variety of domestic circumstances including single person households, marital homes, friends sharing together, and minimum support groups.

The findings AN OVERVIEW

Each of the 50 people in the research group distinguished between work-time and leisire-time. Some had a structured week because they were employed, or did voluntary work, or attended the local ATC; all activities which took them outside the home during the working day. Others, without an external structure, defined themselves as unemployed, or retired, or as housekeepers. Their self-structured working week involved doing essential tasks and chores in “work” time, and engaging in favourite hobbies and pastimes in “leisure” time. This division of the day, and the week, into work and leisure periods, made it possible to study each person’s spare time activities.

The research revealed a rich diversity of interests. At home, most people listed one or more passive pursuits, such as watching television, listening to the radio or to records, and looking at magazines or newspapers. Some home activities involved two or more people joining together in doing jigsaws, or playing cards or other household games such as Ludo or Monopoly. The long list of favourite activities cited included painting, rug-making, sewing, knitting, embroidery, baking and icing cakes, repairs and do-it-yourself, piano playing, typing, current affairs, and local history.

People also took part in a range of activities outside the home. The list of favourite activities in this context is again diverse. People cited, for example, travel-for-pleasure (bus and train trips), walks, social visits to the local cafe, pub, and library, and attending local jumble sales, fetes, fairs, and carnivals. Some of these pursuits at least allowed group members to mix with ordinary people in social situations.

At one level many of the people studied appeared to lead full lives, listing many home-based and community-oriented activities from which they gained enjoyment. This overview, however deals only with the question posed at the outset, of how people spend their leisure time, and what they do.

A more specific research interest was in social activities, those leisure pursuits which brought the group into contact with ordinary people, and which may, or may not, have promoted social integration. In this narrower field of “social activity” four main trends were found: the giving up of pursuits; the getting stuck syndrome; the problems of the threshold; and the adoption of observer status.

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DOROTHY ATKINSON wrote this article whilst a Senior Social Worker with Somerset Social Services Department. She is now a Lecturer with the Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA. 0 1985 British Institute of Mental Handicap 139

MENTAL HANDICAP VOL. 13 DECEMBER 1985

TRENDS IN RELATION TO SOCIAL ACTIVITY

Giving up pursuits A number of people referred to things they “used to” do.

Sometimes these activities had ceased voluntarily. For example, Edgar and Robert had given up going to the pictures because “they are too dear”, and Edward had given up going to the local pub and had taken to getting drinks in at home “to save money”. Some people had lost interest in activities; for example, Doreen in her country dancing, and Arthur in his art classes. Some people, including Ralph and Enid, had adopted a home-centred way of life and had settled into a comfortable, undemanding rut, shedding social activities like trips, nights out, and holidays.

However, in several instances the giving up of pursuits had been involuntary, brought about by social and personal changes outside the person’s control. For example, Joyce’s advancing years had stopped her from entertaining guests for tea, Eric’s long walks and Bruce’s church-going had ceased through ill health, and Cliff gave up his bingo sessions when his sister would no longer accompany him. In these situations, and in several others cited, people’s lives had narrowed through the loss of social activities which they had once enjoyed in their leisure time. Getting stuck

Many people had a particular flair, or interest, which in itself gave them pleasure. However, they appeared to lack the confidence, or know how, to expand the interest into a social setting. Opportunities such as making a private hobby into a social, shared activity, or a means of learning new skills, were missed. For example, Agnes embroiders at home alone, whilst Charles argues his political views with his group home companions. Could Agnes join a local embroidery group, and Charles a political party? Alan has exhausted his personal knowledge of wine-making, and Geoffrey has reached the limits of his knowledge of the inner workings of record players. If Alan had more confidence he could join in the town’s wine circle, and if Geoffrey had more confidence he could sign on for classes at the college.

There are other ways of getting stuck. Many people were stuck in roles, particularly sex roles, and sometimes handicap roles.

The adoption of a sex role can restrict choice to some extent, and may preclude some opportunities to develop social activities. For example, gardening tended to be a man’s pursuit, whereas keeping house was seen as women’s work. Some men had tool boxes for attending to household repairs, just as some women had work boxes for their sewing, darning, and mending activities. Men tended to fetch and carry heavy items, and act as escorts to their women companions; just as women adopted the role of carer, caring for the men, the house pet, and callers.

Assigned, and adopted, roles of this kind did not suit everybody. Edgar’s preference for cake baking was much more a reflection of his interests than his assigned role in the garden. It could have developed into a social activity, through icing classes perhaps or competing in shows, whereas the gardening was simply duty.

Some people got stuck in handicap roles. Seventeen spent some, or all, of their working day in the local ATC, meeting and

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mixing with other people with handicaps and paid carers. Many attended a local Gateway Club in their leisure time; some attended separate evening classes for people with mental handicaps. These people led full lives, but they did so at a price - the price of social integration. The threshold

The people studied went out a good deal, spending some of their leisure time in a range of activities in the neighbourhood and in their local community. Certainly they mixed with other people and some, like Edgar who played in the pub pool team, made real contact and developed reciprocal friendships. Others, however, were not able to cross that threshold; they attended, and they observed, but somehow they did not make contact.

Some people took up a social activity specifically to go out and meet people. Richard, for example, took up bingo with this in mind. He found, to his disappointment, that it led nowhere, and worse, it emphasised his separateness.

People with mental handicaps, like those studied, often find it is not easy to make friends simply by attending functions. An inside contact may be necessary, or a confident companion someone who can effect introductions, and ensure that contacts are made and maintained. The observer status

The people surveyed tended to remain on life’s sidelines, observing but not joining in. They rarely joined participatory activities, such as evening classes, keep fit, sports, or the local drama group. Such activities hold out the highest reward - the reward of making contact with “ordinary” people - but they also pose the biggest threat; the threat of people’s exposure “in all their naked incompetence” (Edgerton, 1967).

Discussion The people in the research study were prepared for living in

the community by a residential training programme which covered self-care, domestic chores, community facilities, and academic skills. This was sufficient to start them off, even to equip them to lead full lives. However, that early training does not seem to have been sufficient in itself to encourage the development of social activities likely to assist them to attain the goal of social integration.

New training programmes, and new forms of support, are needed if the four trends highlighted in this paper are to be changed. Such programmes could include training in relationship skills (how to make friends, and keep them), network-building and maintenance skills (how to enrol helpers and supporters from the ordinary world), and a range of citizenship skills (how to join in, share, cooperate, and contribute). A repertoire of these additional skills, combined with the help of “leisure volunteers” (Gathercole, 1981) or role modelling “friends” (Wertheimer, 1983) may enable more people with mental handicaps to cross the threshold from the mental handicap world to the ordinary world and to become participants rather than observers.

As it is, the lives of the people in the study, whilst not impoverished, could yet be enriched.

References Atkinson, D. Out in the cold. Social Work Today, 1982; 13: 30, 21. Atkinson, D . The community - participation and social contacts. In,

Russell, O., Ward, I,. (Eds.) Houses or Homes? Evaluating Ordinary Living Schemes for People with Mental Handicap. London: CEH, 1983.

Atkinson, D. Steps Towards Integration. University of Southampton, M. Phil. thesis. 1984.

Edgerton, R. B. The Cloak ofCompetence. Berkley: Univ. California Press, 1967.

Gathercole, C. E. Residential alternatives for adults who are mentally handicapped. 4 , Leisure, social integration and volunteers. Kidderminster: BIMH, 1981.

Malin, N . Group homes for mentally handicapped adults: residents’ views on contacts and support. Brit. J. Ment. Subnorm., 1982; 28(1):54,49-34.

Tyne, A. Looking at Life in a Hospital, Hostel, Home or Unit. London: CMH, 1978.

Wertheimer, A. Leisure. Discussion Paper. London: CMH, 1983. _ _ -

140 0 1985 British Institute of Mental Handicap

MENTAL HANDICAP VOL. 13 DECEMBER 1985

WORK WANTED BY WESTMINSTER STUDENTS Westminster Council’s Social Education Centre at Lisson Grove, Marylebone has many willing hands available to undertake voluntary work in the community. The work is required for students of the centre’s community volunteer scheme to give them the job experience needed for paid employment. The students, who are all 20 or over, can undertake competently a variety of jobs from office work to catering to child care.

The SEC’s community service volunteer scheme is run by member of staff, Don McLeod. Anyone who can offer employment, paid or voluntary, to SEC students should contact him at the Social Education Centre, Lisson Gove, London NWl. Telephone: 01-828 8070, Ext: 4501/2.

David Essex, a student of Lisson Grove, wielding a pitchfork as part of his voluntary gardening job under the SEC’s Community Volunteer Scheme a t Meanwhile Gardens, Kensal Road, London W10.

David is seen with (left to right): gardeners Anthony O’Grady and Alan Whittaker; Eric Martin, a voluntary worker from the Harrington Scheme; and Councillor Anne Mallinson, vice- chairman of Westminster’s Social Services Committee and chairman of the SEC.

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