In studying processes of change in the life of persons with intellectual disabilities our research team had to face many challenges. First we had to clarify the concept of quality of life in a period with too many models and too few clear principles to follow. In fact, the quality of life is a rather subjective concept, based on personal satisfaction and therefore very difficult to assess. This difficulty is even harder to overcome when your subjects are persons with intellectual disabilities. That’s why we had to base much of our assessment on the accounts from parents and staff members and to focus on our own observations and insights.

For this we are in depth to several organizations, families and individuals who shared their experiences and efforts and made us understand that even with a lack of material resources, lack of space, unavailability of information, inadequate guidance from professionals and even with limited intellectual abilities, many things are possible.

And finally we had to clarify who the audience for this paper should be. We hope that it will go beyond academia, on to the professionals who are working directly with intellectually disabled persons. But we also hope that it will be available to the parents and families of disabled people. We hope that this product will contribute to the empowerment of parents and service providers to seek and develop better and more appropriate services. We also hope that those in charge of the administration of professional and other organizations in the community that reach out to parents and persons with intellectual disability will also access this paper. We hope that they will be able to use this information and insight to bring about even more effective programs and sensitize persons to existing conditions in the Romanian context. And we hope that the book will be accessed by governmental organizations that are indirectly and directly involved with policy making regarding disabilities as well as funding such initiatives.