FRIENDSHIP RELATIONSHIPS, COMPOSITION AND DYNAMICS

THE CASE OF WORKERS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES

Abstract

To improve our scientific understanding of the quality of life of workers with intellectual disabilities, this article focused on the analysis of the friendship relationships of a sample of 21 people who have worked for at least 12 years for the same employee under an open-ended contract. Data and testimonies were collected from each subject at two time periods, approximately 10 years apart. The results, reflections, and considerations presented here therefore arise from a longitudinal study. Thus, time was used as a framing variable for data collection and subsequent analysis, emphasizing the professional situation of the sample subjects. Our results show that, at both moments in time, friendship relationships are generally fragile and inconsistent, due to the absence (or near absence) of joint activities, mutual knowledge, confidentiality, complicity, and other attributes typical of this type of interpersonal relationship.