01/02/2026
Planned communities for people with intellectual disabilities are often sold as progress. They come with glossy brochures and careful language: safety, belonging, independence, “community.”
And I understand the appeal. Families are tired of waiting lists, crisis placements, and broken supports. When the system fails this badly, anything stable can feel like hope.
And yes, there may be people who want to live in a setting like this. Some may prefer being near others or having supports close by. The problem isn’t that this option exists. The problem is what happens when it becomes the option. How many people truly choose this, and how many accept it because other real choices were never built, funded, or offered?
Choice isn’t real when it’s “take this or have nothing.” It isn’t real when individualized supports in ordinary neighbourhoods are unavailable. And it isn’t real when safety is used to justify segregation.
We also need to talk about power. Parents are often the driving force behind planned communities, acting out of deep love, fear, and exhaustion. Their advocacy can move governments and unlock funding in ways their sons and daughters cannot. But this places people with intellectual disabilities in a difficult position: living in environments chosen for them, not always by them. When parental voices dominate planning, self-direction can quietly disappear, even when everyone believes they are doing the right thing.
Planned communities also send a message to the rest of society: “Don’t worry. We’ve taken care of them.” It relieves the neighbourhood, the employer, and the community from having to learn how to include. It allows exclusion to remain intact, and simply builds an alternate world for the people who are excluded.
But inclusion is not a disability service. Inclusion is a community responsibility.
We don’t need “a community for them.” We need a world that makes room. That means ordinary homes, individualized supports, flexible funding, and support teams that follow the person rather than buildings that require the person to fit the program.
We already have communities.
What we lack is the will to share them.
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ID: Image shows plans for a planned community for people with intellectual disabilities in a very isolated location. Text reads: People with intellectual disabilities...? "Don't worry. We've taken care of them."
