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Inclusive research has gained momentum internationally. However important critiques of this approach query whether inclusive research reinforces perceptions of deficit and contribute to exclusionary practices. This paper presents a reflection on the practices within an inclusive research group over the past decade, with a focus on decision making and support. The authors used thematic analysis to critically review minutes, workshop presentations and research reports. The findings indicate a shift in how the group works together; moving away from being guided by university supporters in the early years towards increased participation in decision making and ownership of the group's agenda by self-advocates over time although balanced collaboration across all members continues to be challenging. The article explains how the inclusive approach used by the group enabled self-advocates to not only conduct research, but to also critically review their own work. Research done together with people with learning disabilities, inclusive research, has become known worldwide. Some people wonder if teams that say they are inclusive are not really treating people as equal partners. Our group wanted to reply to these key issues as we think about how we work together. To do this, we looked at our meeting notes and agendas, reports, and training presentations over the past ten years. We looked at how we make decisions and the support we get. The group found that self-advocates and supporters now work as full partners. University supporters made decisions before. Now self-advocates decide the research topics, methods, and the report. In this article we explain how we work together and also what we think about the work we do. Even though we are happy with the way we work, we still struggle with how much work we all do. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the history of parent advocacy in the UK on behalf of and with people with learning disabilities since the mid-twentieth century and reflects on the role of the academy in illuminating and documenting its story. It argues that parent advocacy has flourished at times of change and challenge, and has seen a revival since austerity began to bite. In the twenty-first century parent advocacy has mutated into working with, rather than for people with learning disabilities, a development to be welcomed, given the cuts to services, and the impact of 'welfare reform'. This once more united voice is manifested in the launch of Learning Disability England in June 2016. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information provision and communication within the Criminal Justice System can be highly problematic for young people and adults with learning disabilities and difficulties. Paper-based communication is common, and is mandated for the provision of rights and entitlements in custody, but such communication can be poorly understood, potentially leading to miscarriages of justice. This article uses the piloting of a more accessible version of the rights and entitlements notice in custody to explore the communication practices with vulnerable detained persons from the perspectives of professionals within the Criminal Justice System. As a legally mandated text in a context heavily imbued with organisational power, the rights and entitlements notice in custody has sociological significance as a lens through which organisational practices, and understandings, can be examined. The stressful, fast-paced and transitional context of custody shapes communication and interaction in ways that are challenging for the detained person and also the professionals who support them. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Exercising the right to vote at elections is frequently denied to people with disabilities. In this study, we examined the voting behaviour of individuals with physical or learning impairments and the barriers they encountered during the national elections in 2017 in the Netherlands. A survey design was chosen to allow large-scale questioning of both target groups. Over 90% of people with physical impairments voted and respondents found that voting was accessible. Voter turnout among people with learning impairments was much lower (46%). They experienced difficulty to prepare themselves and at the polling station. The Netherlands seems well on the way to achieving an inclusive environment for people with physical impairments. Recommendations are given about accessibility for all and for exploring alternative methods of voting such as proxy voting and tailoring information and procedures to the needs of people with learning impairments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The label of ‘intellectual disability’ can be a very blurred concept, because for those on the borders their label often arises from the interaction of the individual with their environment, from their socio-economic status, and from the social role which they choose to undertake. This paper explores the contested notion of intellectual disability in the context of people who have been in trouble with the law in England, and contrasts their situation with that of people who have been protected by best interests decisions under the Mental Capacity Act (England and Wales). People who are on the ‘borderline’ of having an intellectual disability, like any citizens, have a range of intersecting identities. Drawing on the notions of ‘interactional’ disability theory, we reflect on the shifting, relative nature of intellectual disability, and the need for the law to focus on support needs, rather than on impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While internet use continues to increase amongst the general population, in comparison, adults with intellectual disabilities are still less likely to access the Internet and benefit from the opportunities it can offer. Non-intellectual disability perspectives and assumptions, which often view the Internet as a risk for those with intellectual disabilities, are considered over the everyday lived online and well-being experiences of adults with intellectual disabilities. In response, this study interviewed 8 participants with intellectual disabilities using a descriptive phenomenological approach. Seven constituents emerged: internet as a mirror; internet enables visibility and invisibility; internet as liberating; internet meets unmet needs; internet creates an active decision maker and expert; internet as friend and foe; and, the body connects to, and disconnects from, the Internet. The findings gave rise to new perspectives, recommendations, and adds to the existing literature on how to support adults with intellectual disabilities' enjoyable, safe and independent internet use. Participants with intellectual disabilities described feeling unsafe and restricted in their offline lives, but online they often felt safer and that they could do anything. Participants did not view their intellectual disability positively. Online they could keep their disabilities hidden from others, creating a variety of identities (creative, strong, protective and helpful) that they felt represented them more accurately. When the internet was described as a positive resource in life, this was linked to a sense of well-being with an identity emphasis. Additionally, findings point to examples of well-being in spatial, embodied, mood, sense of belonging with others and temporal ways. This study highlights how danger was negotiated by people with intellectual disabilities in similar ways to dangers in everyday life and how these skills are transferable to offline and online worlds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses 'special observation', a practice used in inpatient units and in mental health and learning disability services. I present some perspectives on this practice from women detained on locked wards, and staff members. Despite the many valid criticisms, I show that constant observations can be used as a way to harness engagement and to improve relationships between staff and residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of studies on inclusive research involving people with learning disabilities is increasing. These studies address multiple factors that need better understanding, including the education and training of people with learning disabilities and factors that affect different aspects of the research process. This 18-month long study is part of the collaborative research conducted in Spain and carried out by a research team, which consists of both academics and non-academics with learning disabilities. The results demonstrate that inclusive research should be a dialogical practice that addresses significant and relevant issues concerning people with learning disabilities serving as researchers. The results also show that inclusive research is a formative practice that offers opportunities for debate, compromise, and the analysis of these topics. The education and training of people with learning disabilities are relevant topics in inclusive research. The study demonstrates the value of inclusive research based on collaborative relationships This study indicates that inclusive research should be a communicative process, open to the possibility of learning with and from other people. Research studies should address topics relevant to people with learning disabilities, including social inclusion. Inclusive research is an ongoing learning process that offers opportunities for debate and compromise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to the ongoing development of the theorisation of learning disability, focusing on the value of the ontological turn. We argue that while social theory has influenced understandings of disability within academia, particularly within disability studies, it has had a limited impact on the discursive and practical use of the term 'learning disability'. How 'learning disability' is constructed is of direct consequence to the lives of people with learning disabilities. Owing to this, we present a practical and representative ontology of learning disability in order to progress the ontological turn into everyday understandings of disability. To do this, disability theory is discussed, critically appraised and progressed. We then outline how this new theorisation could be re-contextualised within policy, with a view to further re-contextualisation into practice and the everyday. It is hoped that this article will spark discussion regarding how the ontological turn can be used for change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this article is how special needs technology in the United Kingdom was developed and used for and by adults with learning disabilities between 1970 and 1999. Fifty-two experienced practitioners were interviewed about their memories of the period. Analysis of their experiences reveals a number of digital inequalities, how the practitioners working to support the technology use of adults with learning disabilities experienced these inequalities as a vacuum of support and what attempt they made to redress the balance. These finding suggest that new technologies currently being developed are unlikely to reduce digital inequalities for adults with learning disabilities without significant shifts in our understanding about what contributes to such inequalities and the role that practitioners can play in resisting such inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite UK government policy emphasising the rights and choices of people with learning disabilities, opportunities to choose fulfilling leisure activities remain severely constrained. Following a brief literature review we present a co-inquiry study developing a deeper understanding of the persistent space between actual and desired use of leisure time. We explore the potential of the capability approach to aid understanding of learning disabled people's constrained choices of leisure activities, and constrained roles as researchers, as matters of human rights and social justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Positive You is an inclusive arts project supporting learning disabled people to explore self-esteem through art-making. The project was developed by self-advocate Leah Jones who observed a gap in service provision after struggling with her own confidence and self-esteem for many years. This article has been co-written by Leah and her support Jade French using a life-story approach. Leah hopes that by sharing her story, this article will not only demonstrate the value of art-making in developing self-esteem, but also that learning disabled people can develop their own employment opportunities with the right support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents some of the community-based artwork of a group of men with learning disabilities, who aimed to challenge some of the misconceptions associated with learning disabilities. People with learning disabilities regularly face many forms of direct and indirect stigma. The consequences of such negative perceptions may affect individuals' social relationships and ensure that barriers are strengthened which prevent their full inclusion. The men in this project used a series of visual and creative methods to challenge some of these misconceptions by telling stories through art, demonstrating skill through photography, using poetry to talk about sexual identity and improvising drama and filmmaking to challenge stigma, and through sculpture expressed their voices. Thus, by doing so, they were able to challenge some of the stigma associated with learning disabilities, indicating that community-based arts research is a valuable way in which to promote the voices of people with learning disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Financial Crisis of 2008 resulted in many western economies implementing cuts in health and social care. This systematic review provides a holistic picture of the impact of austerity policy on the lives of people with learning disabilities (LD) and the collateral effects on the people who support them. Our review suggests that in the current climate of economic austerity, available funding to support people with LD is no longer aligned to their care needs. Cuts in disability services have adversely affected the well-being both of people with LD and their informal carers. Individuals with LD have lost social support and are experiencing increased social isolation. Heightened demands on family carers' time have negatively influenced their wider roles, including parental functioning, and labour market participation. Our review provides the foundations for further discourse and research on the effects of austerity on people with LD and their family carers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article primarily accounts for walks taken in purportedly public places with ‘Paul’, a middle-aged man who is currently diagnosed as having ‘severe learning difficulties’. These walks offer windows into the ways in which dis/ableist discourses and the powerful abstractions they produce descend to the level of practice, seeping into seemingly innocuous spaces, and the interactions and subjectivities therein. Through these encounters, persons become complicit in the production, maintenance and reinforcement of non-disabled (or abled)/disabled identities. This article nevertheless attempts to destabilize and defetishize the ontological categories that these encounters realize, and to recognize the vitality and presence set aside or concealed behind these concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the decision-making process with a group of people with learning difficulties in an inclusive research project. The article explores the literature around people with learning difficulties and decision-making, drawing in particular on studies using conversation analysis. Three examples drawn from the research process and illustrated by transcripts of video data are then examined critically to unpick the author's claims of collaborative decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2016, the Department of Health in England announced that it would pilot the role of Named Social Worker. We chose to be part of the pilot because we regularly witness too many people’s lives being defined by restrictions imposed by professionals. Erroneous associations between the concepts of risk and danger have become the norm in how learning disabled people’s decision-making is perceived and managed. However, we believe social workers educated in the social model of disability and grounded more generally in disability studies offer an alternative perspective. The pilot is an opportunity to test our hypothesis that social work practice rooted in social model thinking can successfully challenge oppressive practice and disabling barriers, thus providing the opportunity for social workers to genuinely be ‘servants not masters’ in the lives of disabled people. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the 1990s, Canadian universities began implementing policies to accommodate learning disabled students. While such policies appear to make post-secondary education more accessible, students must manage considerable complexity and absorb social and financial costs to receive accommodations. Through interviews with learning disabled students, this research explores the effects of socio-economic status (SES) on how, or whether, students access accommodations at a Nova Scotian university. Drawing on the work of Bourdieu and Goffman, this study suggests that SES affects students’ abilities to navigate the accommodation process successfully, and that accommodation policies, while important, may not ensure equal access to accommodations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This ethnographic project explored the lives of women with learning disabilities on three locked wards. Aspects of these women’s lives were regulated by the service; in particular, relationships with family outside the unit, and peer relationships inside the unit. The women in this study valued these relationships, but they were treated with ambivalence by the service. Success in future community integration and accessing community resources can be dependent on the nature and quality of relationships with others, and therefore services should acknowledge that service-users need to forge relationships of their own choosing. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since the UK Winterbourne View scandal, there have been a number of reports and responses recommending what should be done to ensure a similar scandal does not happen again. Two ideas have emerged which suggest that people with learning disabilities need a legal charter of rights and a commissioner to make a difference in their lives. This article, however, argues that although it is right that issues affecting people with learning disabilities are at the heart of discussion and debate, this does not take into account the complex, flexible and multiple identities of people with learning disabilities, and their knowledge, experiences and skills. This would be more beneficial in understanding the lives of people with the label of learning disabilities than a commissioner or a charter. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]