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Quality of Life Indicators

Autism Advocate, the monthly magazine of the Autism Society of America, includes a list of "QoL Indicators" (Quality of Life) developed by Dr. Ted Carr. The list of issues ASA seeks to address:

  1. School inclusion.
  2. Social connections (friendships, relationships).
  3. Health and well-being.
  4. Academic success.
  5. Autonomy.
  6. Supported and independent living.
  7. Supported and independent employment.
  8. Subjective well-being.
  9. Recreation and leisure.

I don't quite understand why some of these are separated, since they are closely related. For example, I assume "school inclusion" and "academic success" should be together. When you can have academic success via independent living, part of education is socialization.

I'm also not clear on the "autonomy" point. We are all interdependent in a society, so this must mean the ability to choose what one will or will not do.

Which items on this list are most important to you? Why? What items would you add or remove from this list?

Personally, I think any list over six items is too long. Research has shown we focus best on seven or fewer items. I would merge 1 and 4, drop 5 to emphasize 6 and 7.

Maybe no one has any comments, but it seems like this could help people focus on particular concerns.

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