During later years it has become more common that young adults with intellectual disability organize themselves. Together they try to increase the power over their own lives and at the same time influence the community (local society) in the direction for increased participation. Those self-organized activities, self adovacy, can be understood as resistance against the society’s views and treatment of people with intellectual disability and against traditional ways to offer and organize support and service. The aim is to increase the knowledge about the new self-organized activities for young adults with intellectual disability in Sweden. 

The study will map/chart, describe and analyze 1) the meaning for the members and how the participation in the organization influence their identifications, self-determination, relations and daily life 2) the character of the organization and its activities, how they are organized and what they contain and 3) how the organization has influenced/changed the societies/environments attitudes and treatment. A strategically sample is based on the organizations relations to the established disability movement, i.e. both self-organized movements that exist as a section in the disability movement and those that are free-standing. With case studies, four organizations will be observed closely by using interview, group-interviews, observations and documentation analyzes. The self-organized movements indicate an important change in society and the project is expected to find results that are of importance for the target group and for shaping future support and treatment from society to persons with intellectual disabilities.