Transition to Retirement

The Transition to Retirement (TTR) program aims to help older people with long-term disability gradually build an active and socially inclusive retirement lifestyle through volunteering and participating in mainstream community groups. Members of these groups are trained to act as mentors and provide support. The three-year TTR research project and subsequent years of TTR service delivery have shown that this approach is feasible and has enduring positive outcomes for people with disability, mentors and community groups.

The TTR manual and video material aim to make these benefits available more widely. They provide implementation details for all components of the TTR program, as well as practical tips and accounts of individual participant’s experiences. DVD stories and video clips illustrate key issues. Planning forms are also included, together with an explanation of the process of teaching a person with long-term disability to use public transport independently.

The TTR program is consistent with Australia’s National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) which focuses on building community participation and independence, and with the National Disability Strategy’s emphasis on promoting social inclusion in community settings.

Christine Bigby is the director of the Living with Disability Research Centre at LaTrobe University.

Nathan Wilson is a senior lecturer at Western Sydney University based in the School of Nursing and Midwifery.

Nicolette Gambin is the Transition to Retirement coordinator at the Australian Foundation for Disability (AFFORD).

Roger Stancliffe is a professor of intellectual disability at the University of Sydney's Centre for Disability Research and Policy.

Acknowledgements
Foreword
Introduction
Abbreviations

Section 1: background
1. Disability, ageing and transition to retirement
2. Promoting retirement
3. Laying the groundwork in the community

Section 2: constructing the reality
4. Planning
5. Locating a group for an individual
6. A new routine
7. Recruiting and training mentors
8. Monitoring and ongoing support

Section 3: broader issues
9. Conclusions

Readings
Appendix A: travel training
Appendix B: forms
About the authors
Index
Transition to retirement DVD

'Its scientific foundation is its strength, and the disciplined approach to its construction circumscribes its initial claims to validity and utility. Here we have a clear first step in a standardised manual for a best practice. The TTR needs and deserves to be followed in research as it is applied ... '
Michael Millington   The Australian Journal of Rehabilitation Counselling

' ... the manual is set within the Australian context, [but] the themes and practical suggestions are transferable to other countries and cultures and, all in all, it is a good guide to have to hand.'
Rachel Forrester-Jones   Tizard Learning Disability Review

' ... the book is clear and concise, and will be a useful resource for its primary audience of social care workers who provide employment support services.'
Elizabeth Perkins   Learning Disability Practice

‘The book “Transition to Retirement: A Guide to Inclusive Practice” is a world leading exemplar of a project that can address this inequality for older adults with intellectual disabilities ... A strength of this manual is that it has been written alongside staff from a local charity who have implemented the Transition to Retirement project adding sound advice regarding the enablers as well as the barriers to implementing this project in practice ... I would highly recommend this book to educators, researchers, commissioners and service providers and it should be on the bookshelves of everyone concerned with how adults with intellectual disabilities age in order to plan a more active and inclusive retirement.’

Laurence Taggart   Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities

Format: paperback
Size: 210 × 148 × 10 mm
176 pages
3 b&w tables and 30 b&w illustrations
Copyright: © 2013
ISBN: 9781743323274
Publication: 16 Oct 2013