Family control: The views of families who have a child with an intellectual disability

This paper, reporting on part of a wider study, explores the views held by 68 families, who have a child with a disability, of their perceptions of li festyle control or empowerment. In particular, the paper seeks to examine w hether these families perceive their interactions with service providers to be consistent with family-empowerment principles. Individual open-ended in terviews were conducted with these family members, yielding information on their perceptions of their control over their family lives, and on their vi ews as to how their interactions with service providers might be conducted in such a way as to recognize and enhance such control. The implications fo r professionals working with families in a manner that recognizes family me mbers as truly equal partners and that promotes and enhances genuine family empowerment are discussed.