Experiences of participation in people with intellectual disability, in relation to service support received, and views from professionals in the field of disability.

Purpose: to describe experiences of people with intellectual disability of participating in the cognitive adapted annual national user survey of social services, and their perception of participation in the municipalities' improvement work. Additionally, social service professionals' views of opportunities to involve people with intellectual disability in improvement work based on survey results. Methods: Focus groups of people with intellectual disability and individual interviews with professionals were conducted and analysed, using content analysis. Results: People with intellectual disability expressed they felt listened to, and supported in expressing their views, but there was discrepancy between their and professionals' perceptions of whether their views were considered, and if they were involved in the improvement process. Conclusions: Evaluating services received from social services is important, expressed by people with intellectual disability and professionals, but improvement is needed to feed back results to social services clients, and to involve them in the improvement process.

'It's like it is designed to keep me stressed'-Working sustainably with ADHD or autism.

BACKGROUND: Adults with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face multiple challenges in obtaining and maintaining employment. AIMS: To identify and describe how adults with ADHD or ASD experienced their ability to work and what factors affected their ability to find a sustainable work situation over time. METHODS: Individual in-depth interviews were performed with 20 purposively sampled participants with ADHD/ASD. Data were analysed inductively using reflexive thematic analysis. RESULTS: Three themes were identified, describing (1) one's own cognitive abilities and challenges, (2) enablement by flexibility and acceptance in the work environment, and (3) accumulated stress that makes the work situation unsustainable over time. CONCLUSIONS: Over time, a lack of continuity and predictability of support measures caused great stress and exhaustion, with severe consequences for working life and in life in general. Adaptations needed to be individually tailored and include nonoccupational factors. SIGNIFICANCE: The study shows that adults with ADHD/ASD need long-term interventions that flexibly adapt to individual needs, as they vary over time. The findings suggest that occupational therapists and other health care providers, employers, employment services and other involved agencies should pay a greater deal of attention to stability and predictability over time.