Narrative power: social control in ISLs and group homes
Authors:   , Bledsoe Dennis Dean 
Published: February 2023

Narrative power is used in residential settings providing care for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities as a tool of social control. Framing narratives, stories and accounts influencing the accepted version of events, are used by clients, staff people, supervisors and professionals to influence and control the behavior of people in this social world. Identity narratives, stories and accounts influencing the accepted identity of different social actors, are also used to influence and control the behavior of people in these settings. Individualized Supported Living arrangements (ISLs) and group homes are settings where the social role of a client, a person with intellectual and developmental disabilities receiving support in this setting, is a clearly marked social role with almost no ability to exert narrative power independently, making the framing narratives and identity narratives of other actors the dominant narratives in their lives. Staff people, supervisors, case managers, behavior analysts and other professionals in this social world are able to effectively use narratives as tools of social control over clients, staff and other social actors within this milieu. These decentralized settings typically have one to three clients living in homes and apartments in the community with direct care staff support to assist them with their individualized needs, including activities of daily living, medication administration, behavioral support and community integration. Staff people routinely work for extended periods of time with no effective supervision, setting up a significant power disparity between staff and clients. Framing narratives and identity narratives are routinely deployed by staff in these settings to control the behavior of clients. Attempts by others to use these same tactics to control the behavior of staff people and other non-clients in this social world are routinely met with alternative narratives, or counter-narratives, that blunt the effectiveness of these tactics. Clients were unable to effectively deploy counter-narratives, with the exception of making allegations of abuse or neglect against staff people or others. This tactic sometimes led to outside agencies conducting inquiries. Lengthy ethnographic interviews of eighteen people with insider experience in the social world of ISLs and Group Homes were conducted in an active interviewing style designed to elicit narratives detailing the ways in which power is used as a tool of social control. These narratives were transcribed and analyzed to assess how the respondents used narratives to depict the use of power in this social setting. This analysis produced a number of significant findings. The most significant behavioral changes reported by respondents occurred when the framing narrative or identity narrative was internalized, effectively making the person their own agent of social control. Respondents all depicted themselves in positive terms, while framing others in negative terms and were supportive of increased accountability for other social actors in this setting, but not for themselves. Client advocates are necessary for meaningful client choices to be implemented in this social world, due to the lack of client narrative power in these settings. Institutional methodologies of social control can and do occur in decentralized community placements, making oversight to prevent the abuse and neglect of vulnerable clients a critical need in these settings. The reluctance of caregivers and others to report abuse and neglect of clients, despite being mandatory reporters, appears to be due to fear of reprisals and lack of faith that reporting abuse and neglect will make a difference. Agencies providing ISL and Group Home services receive significantly different levels of oversight based on political and social connections, with large and well-connected agencies getting differential treatment not afforded to smaller agencies with less political pull.