Outside the System: Life Patterns of Young Adults with Intellectual Disabilities

This article reflects some potential possibilities and risks that have been created during the changes in disability policies and general social welfare systems in Sweden over the last year. New ways of life have developed among young people with intellectual disabilities. The paper is based on data from semi-structured interviews with people, who through their profession have wide contact with this group, and from participating observations and interviews with 23 young persons with intellectual disabilities, aged 19–30 years. Three main categories of young people may be distinguished in these subjects: the “cared for and represented”; the “commuters”; and the “outsiders”. For each of these groups, life patterns and contact with service providers will be described and analysed, and strategies and consequences discussed.