Despite cultural differences, “SIS is the right and good instrument for us” says an adult services supervisor in Taiwan

In Taiwan, the Supports Intensity Scale is providing an alternative to institutions for people with intellectual disabilities, thanks to funding and a major push from the Department of Interior for a pilot project led by the Taiwan Community Living Consortium. The project encourages agencies across the region to provide supported employment and community services to people with intellectual disabilities.

“Institutions are not the only choice, and with this project, we have helped people with intellectual disabilities rent a house and support them living in the community. So far, 24 such programs have been set up around Taiwan,” says Susie Chang, adult services supervisor working with the Syinlu Social Welfare Foundation. Syinlu translated the Supports Intensity Scale from English into complex Chinese, the version being used in Taiwan.

Why SIS? “The SIS provides a new way of thinking. It focuses on support needs and not deficits, and it identifies an array of supports people need in order to live in the community,” explains Chang. There are around 87,000 people with intellectual disabilities living in Taiwan.

Syinlu held 3 workshops introducing SIS, and around 90 people attended each workshop. Part of these workshops were led by SIS author Dr. Robert Schalock. Dr. Schalock has been closely involved with the selection of the tool in Taiwan, its translation, and its implementation in the region over the past few years. In this initial phase, SIS is being used to create service plans, although Chang points out that its multiple uses in resource allocation, program development, and staff training are helpful and attractive to professionals.

Despite the excitement about the tool, there are some challenges, explains Chang. First, there are cultural differences in the tool that have to be addressed. Chang explains. “For example, in Part C of Section 1 of SIS, the concept of lifelong learning activities is a new one for us and it is hard to define lifelong learning. Our social welfare services has not developed it well yet, so most people are likely to think that since there aren’t sufficient resources, it is hard to implement Part C. Similarly in Section 2, human rights is a very important subject in USA, and we all agree. However, in Taiwan we have just started work on this. While human rights are important, people are more concerned about their daily lives and livelihood.” This gives added impetus to Taiwan to create its own norms for the Supports Intensity Scale and the process is currently underway. When completed, SIS assessment results will be used as one of the elements in developing a funding formula for allocating resources to people with intellectual disabilities.

The other challenge faced by professionals is the time it takes to administer SIS, explains Chang. “Until now, it took us almost 5 hours to complete a SIS assessment. It may be due to our unfamiliarity with SIS. We still need more practice. We need to find a way to reduce time and to provide a more convenient method in order to administer SIS.”

Regardless, Chang says SIS is a welcome change. “We hope that by implementing the Supports Intensity Scale, we will gradually change people's concept about disability in Taiwan.”