Photo: MostPhotosResearchers from the Arctic Centre of Welfare- and Disability Research (ACWDR) and department of Social Education at UiT, The Arctic University of Norway, are doing a study of living conditions for persons with developmental disabilities and Sami background. The Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs (Bufdir) and the Nordic Centre for Welfare and Social Issues (NVC) are financially responsible for the project.
The main purpose for this study is to gather information about people with developmental disability and Sami background have the same living condition as people with disabilities in general, and as the general population? Do they experience specific challenges related to their participation in society?
In this project we study the living conditions for people with developmental disabilities and sami background. All ten Sami administrative municipalities are included in the study. Focus are on the central living condition variables such as school, education and employment, housing and economics, health and social networks, and participation (leisure, culture, organizational activity, democratic participating) physical and virtual (social media), quality of life/satisfaction and experience with discrimination. Since the purpose of this project is to compare individuals with developmental disabilities with and without Sami background, we use background variables that raises questions about the use of the Sami language and participating in Sami culture.