Diana's Adaptive Behavior

Diana is a white female who lives in Springfield, Illinois with her best friend of 38 years names Kathy. Diana has been diagnosed with Down syndrome, while Kathy has severe Cerebral Palsy (Elliott & Pero, 2007). Kathy and Diana met in a group home and ever since then they now live a home of their own and serve has a support to one another. Diana and Kathy are known to be a team; everyone knows them as a whole. They are very well known in the community for going out and fighting for their rights as an individual with an Intellectual disability. They believe that they should have the right to make their own choices and do whatever they would like just like everyone else and they will not stop until they get what they want (Elliott & Pero, 2007).
Diana’s intellectual disability is very good. Intellectual disability is a general, mental capability meaning she is able to think abstractly, comprehend what is happening, plan and learn quickly (Schalock, 2013). Diana’s Intellectual disability is so good she is able to drive her and Kathy to places, she knows how to use a cell phone as well as the Internet. Diana is well enough aware that she is also able to balance her and Kathy’s check books. Although there was a time she was having a difficult time with this, to support her with this problem she set up a time to have someone come help her and walk her through how to balance better (Elliott & Pero, 2007). Diana also has a well enough intellectual ability that she serves has Kathy’s support, she does everything for Kathy such as feed her, move her from her wheel chair to her bed and she evens bathes her (Elliott & Pero, 2007). Along with having great intellectual ability, she also has great adaptive behavior.
Adaptive behavior is the collection of conceptual, social and practical skills that have been learned over time and are performed by people in their everyday lives (Schalock, 2013). The majority of her adaptive behavior has been learned by her case manager, they were there to support her and help her learn these skills so that she could support herself (Elliott & Pero, 2007). Some of Diana’s adaptive behaviors are, being able to cook for herself and Kathy, as well as her ability to drive and care for Kathy (Elliott & Pero, 2007). Her ability to care for Kathy, keeps Kathy healthy and alive. Her ability to be able to cook helps her stay alive as well. As mentioned before Kathy and Diana participate in conventions and conferences that fight for individuals with intellectual disability rights. Diana’s adaptive behavior to drive allows them to travel to each event; this also allows them to get their voice heard and making a change in the world. She also drives them to the other gatherings they participate in as well such as going to church, going shopping and meeting with
family. Diana’s physical health is fairly well, what came up to be an issue was her mental health.
A lot of Diana’s mental health issues have been related to her upbringing and early childhood. Diana a childhood filled with neglect and physical and emotional abuse, at the age of 8 Diana was taken away from her parents because the abuse was that extreme (Elliott & Pero, 2007). Diana has a lot of weight on her shoulders with taken care of Kathy as well as herself she also has to deal with Medicare trying to investigate them two. Throughout these times she was also trying to get ahold of her birth mother, sadly her mother passed away and that’s when Diana’s depression really started to show (Elliott & Pero, 2007). Kathy serves as a support for Diana through these tough times by just being there for her and allowing Diana to express her feelings. A lot of the stress would be relieved if Medicaid were providing them with more money and did not try to trap them in their own house. Diana is a strong independent lady and will not let these issues stop her from trying to change the laws; she will continue to fight until her voice is
heard.