THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FUTURE ORIENTATION OF ARAB ADOLESCENTS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES
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Authors: Maha Arslan
Keywords: developmental disabilities, future orientation, Arab adolescents, Arab society
Abstract: Future orientation focuses on the image an individual constructs regarding their future; including future goals and courses of action they set for themselves in order to realize these goals. The present study discusses the consolidation of the future orientation of Arab adolescents with intellectual developmental disabilities (IDD) who attend special education schools in northern Israel. Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used. Interviews were held in order to examine the three components of future orientation for life domains: employment, social relations, marriage and family. The interviews also examined the adolescents’ hopes and fears regarding their future. 79 adolescents between the ages 16 to 21 participated in the study. The questionnaires they had to answer were originally designed for adolescents without disabilities. However, for the purposes of the current study they were adapted for the population of adolescents with intellectual developmental disabilities of the Arab society in Israel. The following questionnaires were used: demographic information questionnaire, and future orientation questionnaires, consisting of a “Future Life Domains” questionnaire, “Hopes and Fears” questionnaire, “My Future” questionnaire, and “Future Perception” questionnaire. The results of the study showed that the future orientation of the adolescents with IDD was obscured, unrealistic, pessimistic, and passive. The results also showed that adolescents’ orientation perpetuated the division of social role of genders. It also preserved the existing state of social rejection of people with disabilities.