Building Cooperation by Developing a Domain of Groups & Organizations
John O’Brien
1983
Why do we need another word to describe the social arrangements that people with disabilities rely on? The concept of a domain arises from the recognition that groups and organizations as separate as a church congregation, a group residence, and a homemaker service are commonly concerned about the set of social problems which have to be addressed to improve the social situation of people with severe disabilities. Each group and organization in a domain is engaged with some common issues (though they may not know it) , each has an important perspective, each can contribute uniquely to a positive response, and each can create problems for the others. But no on e group or organization can solve all the problems because the problems are complex and mixed up in each other. In fact, attempts to make things better for one organization could end up making the whole situation worse.
