Transition to Retirement: A Guide to Inclusive Practice

As much as everyone groans from time to time about the humdrum and stresses of work, retirement is an unsettling prospect for most people. It’s a major transition in anyone’s life and change of this magnitude often arouses anxiety. This is much more so for people with disability, particularly intellectual disability.

But, as this manual shows, it doesn’t have to be like that. The Transition to Retirement (TTR) program has been developed in response to a genuine problem: the need for an effective approach to supporting older employees to build an active, socially inclusive lifestyle after retirement. The approach mapped out in this manual may not be the solution for all workers with disability, but it will certainly assist quite a few.

The TTR program emphasises social inclusion. It is consistent with the focus of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) on building community participation and independence. It is also consistent with the National Disability Strategy’s emphasis on promoting social inclusion in mainstream community settings and service systems. The TTR program supports ageing people with disability to develop new interests, skills and social networks, and facilitates their participation in mainstream community groups.

With the manual comes a DVD, which makes the idea of inclusive activities in retirement easily understandable to people with disability, their families and community organisations.

Author royalties from sales of this manual to the Australian Foundation for Disability (AFFORD) to support AFFORD’s Transition to Retirement program.