Moving models: Leading through constant change

This chapter focuses on changes that have happened to services and supports for people who experience intellectual disabilities and the implications of these for leadership. The major change in services and supports for people who experience intellectual disabilities that has occurred in many countries is the move from large-scale institutional provision to smaller-scale community-based patterns of support. Many factors have influenced the extent to which the promise of positive change has been realised and one of these factors is the presence or absence of effective leadership. As with any change of approach, there can be a gap between rhetoric and reality, and person-centred approaches to support are not universally evident. However, it can be seen that moves towards this present different challenges for leadership since traditional power structures are challenged and those who are supported by a service move towards greater leadership and control of their own lives.