CITIZENSHIP AND COMMUNITY LIFE WITH REFERENCE TO THE CONCEPT OF DEMOCRACY AMONG STUDENTS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Being a citizen of a country is the status of citizenship. If one has citizenship of a country, he would have the right to live there, work, vote, use community resources, pay taxes etc. Citizenship for persons with Intellectual Disability (PwID) is exactly the same as citizenship for anyone else. Citizenship is important for all of us. Having an ID is not a barrier to citizenship in fact it is useful because it helps communities come together, but it does become a barrier if society lets prejudice and power get in the way. The fundamental rights in our constitution are considered as basic human rights of all citizens, irrespective of their gender, caste, religion, disability etc. whereas when it comes to PwID, it sounds so difficult. Therefore, for this study 10 Adolescent students with Mild and moderate Intellectual disability were selected through purposive sampling method and a training program was organized to find out the understanding of these intangible concepts. Five selected topics i.e. community participation, community resources, fundamental rights, self-advocacy, election were included in the training program. The data collected was analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods both. The finding of the study reveals that through proper planning, role play, exposure in community and using visual clues, the awareness level of democracy, citizenship and election etc. can definitely enhance the understanding of citizenship among PwID.