Residential environments for persons with mental retardation generally are produced with little inputfrom the inhabitants and rely heavily on the preconceived notions of planners, architects, and human service personnel. A general belief exists that persons with mental retardation have little ability to contribute significantly to the design process, primarily because of their cognitive and communication deficits. As mental retardation services have slowly shiftedfrom a medically oriented model to a normalization-based one, the focus has switchedfrom product-oriented to process-oriented goals. This poses significant difficultiesfor consumers and the professionals who work with them. However, it seems possible that, given the visually oriented nature of the design professions combined with current teaching technologies that can rapidly facilitate the acquisition of self-advocacy skills, persons with mental retardation may be able to learn to express their preferences about their residential environments and experience greater control over their lives.
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