Normalisation in action

SUMMARY. The socialisation patterns of 18 adults with mental handicaps and 32 adults without handicaps in Gort, a small town in the West of Ireland, were surveyed. The results indicate that although adults with mental handicaps living in a small town engage in most of the same activities as their non-handicapped peers, they tend to do so in groups of three or more, often in the company of a houseparent or relative, whereas adults who are not mentally handicapped engage in the same activities either alone or with one other friend. This difference seems to result in the people with mental handicaps making less new social contacts than people who are not handicapped.