ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research is to study suitability of a sweeper as a new occupation fitting to the character of the people with the mental retardation.Analysis of job which is necessary to perform the sweeper has been conducted. This research also studied the suitability of the occupation to the individuals with different impairments of physical, sensory function, cognitive function and emotional behavior based on the study of 5 individual participants. Conclusion is as follows.1. The office building maintenance(sweeper) is an occupation which demands muscular strength of gross motor. Visual perception about a space and an object is mainly needed and the most important facts in the cognitive function are an idea of time, sequence, direction, topographic orientation, & memory.2. Based on analysis of 5 different individuals who have different functional impairments shows that deteriorated muscular strength (compare to non-disabled person) didn’t affect the job. On the contrary, visual perception and emotional behavior problems are two biggest challenges to the occupation.3. Not requiring dexterity of hands movement as in the manufacturing industry and broad acting radius, those two facts made a sweeper a suitable occupation for the people with mental retardation who lack dexterity in acting and concentration.Based on the research, a sweeper is a suitable occupation fitting to the character of the people with mental retarcation and it is therefore need to generalize the result of the research by conducting a follow-up research with more participants.