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Trevor Parmenter of the Unit for Rehabilitation Studies at Macquarie University fears that the term "quality of life", along with "normalisation" and "least restrictive alternative" to name just two others, has lost its essential meaning and become a superficial descriptive to suit professional and political purposes rather than helping people with disabilities achieve a better quality of life. Parmenter examines research into the theory of quality of life, the various theoretical models based on quality of life and whether quality of life can actually be validly assessed. While there are many problems which the article touches on, Parmenter is hopeful that the quality of life of people with disability will, in future, be viewed more from an individualised perspective than from a bureaucrat's predetermined notion. Keyword: Individualisation