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This paper is about mothering, young learning disabled people, their sexualised and relationship lives and normalisation--not through the lens of the disabled person, but via a mothers perspective and theoretical discussion. As a mother who has a learning disabled daughter, a feminist and an academic my own mothering experience, my Ph.D. research and social theory are woven throughout this paper with the intention of opening up debate about sex, intimacy and normalisation, and how these impact upon young learning disabled people. I suggest that the relationship between sex, reproduction, intimacy and intellectual impairment and a project to decipher what it means to be human in all its dirty glory are also part of the discourse that needs to be discussed experientially and theoretically. So much so that the messy world within which we all live can be variously and differently constructed.

Despite the UK's recent history of promoting the social inclusion and equality of men and women with learning disabilities they remain a significantly disadvantaged group. Compared with their non-disabled peers they are more likely to be unemployed, less likely to own their own homes and are at a significantly greater risk of physical and mental ill health. The first part of this paper discusses the welfare rights of citizens with learning disabilities in terms of New Labour's welfare to work policies. The second part discusses the UK's mixed welfare economy and its impact upon services for men and women with learning disabilities. The paper concludes by considering whether the social inclusion of men and women with learning disabilities can be promoted solely through policies that emphasise inclusion through work and the personalisation of welfare services.

This paper explores the views of men with learning difficulties living in a secure environment. Reflecting findings from a doctoral thesis based upon a research project where the participants looked at the processes and concepts of research, the dialogues within the study were analysed using critical discourse analysis. Thesis aims relevant here include investigating given "truths" about the positives of having a learning disability. The men are not only categorised as having a learning difficulty, but also have the added stigma of being offenders, and commonly having mental health issues which expose them to the worst of myths surrounding learning difficulty. Despite this, the findings suggest that the men are very positive about their lives--reporting that they have many attributes and talents--and view having a learning difficulty as an advantage at times. This affirms Foucauldian ideas on the way that dominant knowledge may be challenged.

The year 2009 witnessed the publication of a themed edition of "Research in Drama Education" on disability (vol. 14, no. 1). This is a "first", and the author comes to this review as a disability studies academic with no background in writing on drama or the arts more generally, and this was the preferred approach to reviewing expressed by the journal editor. In presenting a fresh gaze on the themed edition the author hopes to better open up the work on drama and disability to wider scrutiny, to transcend shibboleths, to offer a reflexive account back to the contributors. There are as might be expected from a collected edition of this kind very disparate ideas presenting in the 12 papers in the themed edition. In this article, the author draws out what seem the most important messages in the themed edition. (Contains 1 note.)

The lack of cultural diversity in higher education is recognised by policy objectives and a current focus on the development of widening participation for a range of students, including those with disabilities. Amongst this group are those with dyslexia who might previously have been disenfranchised from formal education and under-represented within it. This paper explores the personal narratives and learner histories of six postgraduates and academics with dyslexia from their earliest memories of learning to their present experiences. It examines how literacy, as a dominant form of discourse, has defined concepts of academic ability resulting in the early exclusion of these learners from formal education. It is argued that this dominant discourse can be challenged by non-authorised, informal learning resulting in stories of resistance.

There has been a growing debate during an increasingly poststructural era that has paved the way for open discussions regarding the interplay between impairment, disability and society. Some of these discussions have led to the conclusion that modernity is responsible for the production, construction and/or sustenance of impairment. The purpose of this paper is to trouble a special education impairment category, the US educational category of "learning disabilities" (LD). This is done by discussing the dilemma of whether or not impairment is real and by contextualizing it within US federal policy that has recently shifted to require what is called a response to intervention approach for determining LD labels. This significant policy shift helps illuminate how impairments are produced, constructed and sustained by social mechanisms. Finally, the same arguments are extrapolated beyond special education and are brought to bear on other medicalized fields.

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]

Observations were conducted in three county councils to find out whether the government's ambition to develop Learning Disability Partnership Boards (as expressed in the White Paper "Valuing people") are being realized. All the partnerships practiced various inclusive activities in order to involve people with learning disabilities in public service strategies. However, there appeared to be limited opportunities for citizens to be involved in recommendations or decision-making for their area. This concurs with other research elsewhere on the involvement of citizens in state provision, i.e. public participation in civic affairs remains in the control of public sector managers. The lack of opportunities for citizens to direct the allocation of resources and strategies at a local level, regardless of their ability to process information, emphasises the limits of New Labour's citizen-public sector partnerships. (Contains 3 tables and 3 figures.)

Scholars have paid surprisingly little attention to the role of the state in the provision of accommodation for the learning disabled before the twentieth century. This paper will address this lacuna by investigating the fate of pauper 'idiots' in Victorian England. As this paper will illustrate, 'idiots' and 'imbeciles' fell under two overlapping jurisdictions-the Poor Law Board and the Lunacy Commission. The tension between the two systems led to a call for a different type of asylum-a hybrid of the county asylums and pauper workhouses-that was eventually constituted under the authority of the Metropolitan Asylums Board in 1867. This paper illuminates the local negotiations which resulted in the congregation of 'idiots' and 'imbeciles' in Poor Law Union workhouses, and explores the nineteenth-century ideology of 'moral treatment', which devalued the learning disabled as 'incurable' and thus unworthy of expensive, specialised state provision. [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]

Despite the UK's recent history of promoting the social inclusion and equality of men and women with learning disabilities they remain a significantly disadvantaged group. Compared with their non-disabled peers they are more likely to be unemployed, less likely to own their own homes and are at a significantly greater risk of physical and mental ill health. The first part of this paper discusses the welfare rights of citizens with learning disabilities in terms of New Labour's welfare to work policies. The second part discusses the UK's mixed welfare economy and its impact upon services for men and women with learning disabilities. The paper concludes by considering whether the social inclusion of men and women with learning disabilities can be promoted solely through policies that emphasise inclusion through work and the personalisation of welfare services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individual planning in services for people with learning disabilities is used on the assumption that it encourages service users across a range of abilities to make important decisions about their lives. Although recent studies have questioned the value and effectiveness of such processes, the principles underlying the practice of individual planning are rarely challenged. This paper considers important aspects of individual planning in London, comparing a system based on the principles of normalisation with a situation-specific, family-orientated system operating in Milan, Italy. Key factors such as the role of professionals of the involvement of service users are considered with the aims of the process. The intention of the paper is to stimulate debate in an area of practice by questioning its assumptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is evidence that a number of people with learning difficulties living in the community do not enjoy a range of satisfactory social relationships. This paper will examine the way that the issue of the apparent loneliness of people with learning difficulties has been approached in the community care literature. I will argue that there is a clear assumption in much of the literature that friendships between disabled and non-disabled people are of greater value than those relationships between disabled people. The low value accorded to friendships between disabled people is very damaging to their individual self-esteem, as well as to the possibility of political action based on a sense of solidarity. The paper will point also to the constraints that many people with learning difficulties face which render it difficult for them to form friendships and, therefore, reinforce their isolation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explains why the normalisation principle has had so little effect on the sexual options open to people with learning disabilities. It analyses discourses about services and about sexuality and suggests that one implicit role of services is the regulation of sexuality and the creation of sexual boundaries. The paper questions whether there are homogenous sexual values, and challenges the assumption that sexuality is 'natural' arguing that this view is simplistic and hides the extent to which rules about sexual behaviour are applied on the basis of social inequalities. Thus, the paper explores assumptions and ideologies about sexuality, normality and integration and reinstates all three concepts to a problematical status. It questions the ways in which people with learning disabilities are really free to be 'sexual' and the penalties they face in breaking out of the roles which have been prescribed for them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper asks, in the context of recent legislative changes, what can be done to support more citizens in England and Wales with learning disabilities to vote in national elections? This issue is addressed through (i) a review of recent disability access campaigns that have reported discrimination against, and the under-representation of, adults with disabilities in UK elections; (ii) a review of recent research undertaken in the USA into the assessment of competence to vote and research undertaken in England that conclusively documents the under-representation of voters with learning disabilities in the 2005 general election. It is proposed that a 'functional approach' to developing an individual's capacity to vote could help to fulfil Article 29 of the United Nations' Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities that gives all people the same political rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a comparative evaluation of two approaches to the organisation of learning disability services and individualised support for people with learning difficulties – Social Role Valorization (SRV) and the Social Model of Disability. Brief descriptive accounts of each approach are given, together with reference to critiques of SRV from UK academics, including those writing from a Social Model perspective. The applicability of the Social Model to people with learning difficulties, and critiques of their marginalization by it, are also discussed. The paper goes on to argue that whilst the analysis of devaluation is similar between the two approaches, academic debates have focussed more on ideological differences, thus losing the opportunity for a sharing of their respective contributions to addressing oppression. The possibility of a ‘dialogue for practice’ is raised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes and discusses the process of a research project designed to provide a model of disability equality training for health and social care staff. The interprofessional and participative consultative process when designing a disability equality staff training programme based on a social model of disability is evaluated. The methodology and conceptual thinking of the research process is analysed using the qualitative data generated from service users and staff. The paper concludes with a discussion of the challenges and opportunities for health and social service agencies committed to implementing staff disability equality training consistent with the UK Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and the Human Rights Act 1998. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work of Michel Foucault has been widely used in the social sciences to explore relationships of power and knowledge. This paper utilises Foucault's methods in an initial formation of discourse in the problem of care of people with learning disabilities in the twentieth century, and focuses on the problematisation of people with learning disabilities and their care needs. Little has been published regarding the contingencies of past and current practices in any form of systematic way within learning disability services. Neither has literature on disablism been utilised to support these contingencies. In order to establish a basis for the establishment of this discussion, the work and methodologies of Foucault have been utilised to develop ideas and a textual framework, and links are made with disablist literature. This paper is split into two halves; first classification and support structures, and secondly an architexture of learning disability services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues for a clear and unequivocal message from those who advocate Inclusive Education. It suggests that the compulsory segregation of children with 'special needs' will continue until the Law underwrites their right to an equal choice of education. The message to advocates is to make the affirmation of children's rights their primary goal, before resorting to detailed educational debates. It also highlights the plight of David McKibben and his family who have taken on the East Belfast Education Board to fight for David's right to attend his local mainstream high school. David experienced further discrimination and rejection by the independent special needs tribunals. David and his family have welcomed the opportunity to have their predicament highlighted in this paper, which asserts that the independent special needs tribunals and current United Kingdom education legislation are fundamentally at odds with the human rights of disabled and non-disabled children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of 'special' has played a crucial role in the development of educational policy and practice, and the meaning of the term has been the subject of far-reaching debates and controversy. This paper is based on research which explored the meaning of 'specialness' in theory and practice from the point of view of practitioners working in segregated schools, providing education for young people designated as having moderate and severe learning difficulties. The research demonstrates the articulation of the individual model of special in teachers' thinking about pupils, themselves and their relationships with pupils, and also in the learning environment provided for different categories of young people. We argue that the dominant discursive practices of practitioners construct and maintain 'otherness' in special education, and pre-empt alternative discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research and practice in sexuality and learning disability has directly and indirectly highlighted the pathological sexual behaviour of men with learning disabilities, particularly their abuse and exploitation of women with learning disabilities, and relatively high HIV risk sexual behaviour with men without learning disabilities. It is consequently argued that there has been a relative neglect of their wider sexuality and sexual needs. This paper reconstructs this wider agenda, drawing on empirical evidence and theoretical interpretations of need from research and sex education in support of the observations made. In identifying a range of key issues for sexuality work with men with learning disabilities and arguing that they require greater recognition and attention, the paper also provides directional pointers for informing such work and for responding more widely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that a critical study of disability needs to examine how disability is subjectivity experienced, both at a conscious and an unconscious level, as well as having an appreciation of disabling social policies and structures. I begin by identifying the reasons why many social model theorists have not, in the past, seen the analysis of `experience' as being relevant to our understanding of disability. I adopt an interdisciplinary approach (that is, one that recognises the importance of biological, social, relational and unconscious levels of analysis) in the study of two specific groups of people; those with learning difficulties and those with sickle cell anaemia. I focus particularly on the role of modern medicine within a disablist society in this attempt to demonstrate that bodily, emotional and social differences are mutually constitutive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses criteria defined by Zarb to describe research undertaken with people with learning difficulties, in the context of an emerging emancipatory paradigm. First, the paper addresses the question: Who controlled the research and what it was about? It considers consultation with people with learning difficulties, the influence of public service organisations and the ethical committee. Secondly, the paper evaluates how far disabled people were involved in the research process, and discusses issues relating to the inclusion of people with learning difficulties as respondents, obtaining informed consent and the involvement of carers in interviews. Finally, the paper discusses the questions: What opportunities existed for disabled people to criticise the research and influence its future direction? What happened to the products of the research? The role of a pilot study, opportunities to provide feedback and dissemination strategies are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reviews research exploring the degree of community integration of people with learning disabilities. In the majority of studies reviewed `integration' is measured in terms of the activities undertaken within the community and/or the character of personal and social relationships. Although in much of the work the focus on these indicators of outcome is informed by the value assumptions embodied in the principle of normalisation, the paper begins by drawing attention to the potentially contested nature of these assumptions. This is followed by a description and a critique of studies of community integration. The picture which emerges is of the apparently continued gap between being physically within and socially a part of the community. The paper highlights some of the issues this raises for service provision and draws attention to issues of research practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the community care reforms raised the profile of respire services for adults with learning disabilities, little is known about the character of respite provision in Britain. This lack of information is compounded by the way the literature about respite is dispersed across user groups and is often restricted to particular types of services or to specific localities. In order to highlight some of the key issues associated with respite, this paper draws on a wide range of literature. Regardless of differences in terms of the service user groups, common themes are identified which are relevant to service planning and provision for adults with learning disabilities. The paper discusses these themes and argues that a break with the traditional notion of respite as primarily a way to relieve carer burden is long overdue. Adopting the perspective of the primary service users affords the opportunity to re-think respite services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the role parent play in providing knowledge of learning disability to their adult offspring with learning disabilities. Data were derived from an in-depth qualitative study of the nature of parent-adult-offspring co-residence. The findings reveal that while parents recognised and had to deal with the stigma learning disability exerted in their own lives, they had taken steps to prevent their adult offspring from having to deal with similar difficulties. It is argued that it remains the case that learning disability is treated as a stigmatised identity and as such is rendered invisible through the strategic control of information. However, findings point towards the conclusion that there has been a cultural reversal in how this process is managed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children aged 8-10 years in 11 primary schools were asked to draw a very clever person, a very stupid person, a very nice person and a very nasty person. The elicited drawings were analysed for content revealing commonalities and some stereotypes. Cleverness was shown to be gender-independent. Clever people shown were good at maths, wore glasses, and were happy and confident. Stupid people were predominantly male, unhappy, bad at maths, anxious, untidy and small in stature. They were shown as having a negative self-concept. Nice people were mostly female, pretty, smiling and kind. Nasty people were male, aggressive, large, often 'punk' and threatening. It is suggested that the `stupid' group corresponds to those with learning difficulties and the 'nasty' group to those with behaviour problems. These represent anxiety, threat and disadvantage, whereas the more fortunate are characterised by confidence, prosperity and happiness. This paper uniquely uses the images generated by the children themselves in response to stimulus worth. Drawings are independent of verbal report and give children freedom to respond creatively. A comprehensive range of drawings illustrate the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the transition pathways to adult status of 35 young adults with Down's syndrome over a six-year period (1987-93). Despite educational, social and employment legislation aimed at ensuring greater integration into the community, qualitative and quantitative analyses of 'quality of life' outcomes in this group produced a disappointing picture of a narrow range of leisure opportunities, negligible placement in employment, and continuing dependency on parental caregivers in adulthood. Two case studies illustrate how, in the absence of any improvement in opportunities for real integration into the community and in provision of resources to support meeting the special needs of those with learning difficulties, a marginalised group may be being created. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1990 NHS and Community Care Act requires social services departments in Britain to involve representatives of service users in the preparation of their annual community care plans. This paper gives a critical account of the different ways in which the views of disabled people are sought and represented in community care planning; and of the organisational and practical barriers which disabled people and their organisations are likely to encounter in representing their views to service planners. People with learning disabilities, older disabled people, people with sensory impairments and disabled people from Black and ethnic minority communities are particularly likely to be excluded from current consultation procedures. The paper concludes that present methods of representation place considerable burdens on both individual disabled people and on their organisations. Consequently, disabled people may increasingly question the effectiveness and usefulness of their involvement in community care planning, in the light of the many other issues which are important to them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been comparatively little analysis of the ways in which pupils within special education describe themselves. This paper looks at the linguistic repertoires that leavers from special education in Central Scotland drew upon in order to account for their presence in what was seen by those around them as a stigmatising environment. Eighteen special education leavers were interviewed: first of all either before or around the time that they left school; and then, for a second time, between twelve and eighteen months later. This study suggests that these special education leavers drew upon at least four different linguistic repertoires to explain their presence within a segregated environment. Two points emerge from these accounts: first that these repertoires accounted for the lea vers' presence within special education without drawing upon notions of individual pathology; and secondly, that the accounts of these leavers changed according to the differing accounting tasks that the leavers were faced with. The implications of this research for those who work with teenagers and others who are forced to account for their presence in a stigmatising environment is discussed. [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]

This paper discusses how support offered to people with intellectual disabilities who take part in research might affect the resultant data. People with intellectual disabilities from a long-stay hospital, a day centre and a self-advocacy group, all in the UK, participated in focus groups during a research project on nurse advocacy. Their supporters were staff employed by those services who were familiar with and to the group members. The support given to participants reflected the ethos of the services involved, relating either to the medical or the social model of disability. The paper argues that the philosophy of care influencing supporters of research participants with intellectual disabilities may have profound effects on the support provided. It may facilitate or inhibit open exchange of information. It may also aid clarification or cause contamination of the resultant data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines Part III of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (the provision of goods, services and facilities) in relation to adults with learning disabilities. The study had a participatory element in that self-advocates co-facilitated focus groups and joined the Research Advisory Group. The paper presents views of people with learning disabilities, garnered through focus groups and interviews, about the Act and about using services. Awareness of their rights was generally low, although activists were generally better informed. While usually offered reasonable service in shops, pubs and other facilities, people were sometimes treated unfairly. This could take three forms - being treated with a lack of courtesy and respect, failure to make reasonable adjustments and outright refusal to serve. People felt a strong sense of injustice when treated in these ways but the majority were unlikely to complain, although a few had challenged unfair treatment. The paper concludes with recommendations for policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disabled people have often been denied choice and control in their lives. Although direct payments promise to deliver autonomy for disabled people, much depends on the way direct payments employers and personal assistants handle their interactions. These matters are particularly important for people with learning difficulties, who have routinely been restricted and controlled by their support staff. This paper presents an analysis, based on video material, of interactions between people with learning difficulties and personal assistants. The paper examines how difficult tasks, such as giving advice, can be accomplished in ways that people with learning difficulties find acceptable. Successful interactions are built on sensitivity to the wishes of the person, on a moment by moment basis. It is important that both parties coordinate their body language, humour and timing to demonstrate a close and friendly relationship, which is both professional and on the terms of the direct payments employer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a growing debate during an increasingly poststructural era that has paved the way for open discussions regarding the interplay between impairment, disability and society. Some of these discussions have led to the conclusion that modernity is responsible for the production, construction and/or sustenance of impairment. The purpose of this paper is to trouble a special education impairment category, the US educational category of 'learning disabilities' (LD). This is done by discussing the dilemma of whether or not impairment is real and by contextualizing it within US federal policy that has recently shifted to require what is called a response to intervention approach for determining LD labels. This significant policy shift helps illuminate how impairments are produced, constructed and sustained by social mechanisms. Finally, the same arguments are extrapolated beyond special education and are brought to bear on other medicalized fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the gap between policy goals and practice in residential services for people with learning disabilities. Drawing on a nine month ethnographic study of three residential services, it outlines a range of obstacles to the promotion of choice and control that were routinely observed in the culture and working practices of the services. Issues discussed include conflicting service values and agendas, inspection regimes, an attention to the bigger decisions in a person's life when empowerment could more quickly and effectively be promoted at the level of everyday practice, problems of communication and interpretation and the pervasiveness of teaching. We offer a range of suggestions as to how these obstacles might be tackled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Influenced by European policy, human capital and social capital are currently of interest in UK education policy and practice, expressed particularly in the concepts of lifelong learning and entrepreneurship. Human capital and social capital ideas are shown to be flawed by not taking disability into account. The characteristics of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education are examined for relevance to young people with disabilities or learning difficulties and it is concluded that more could be done to develop opportunities for entrepreneurship. The position of people when work is not an option is considered, leading to the question of whether there is a ‘disability industry’, and an acknowledgement of the importance to the economy of disabled people as consumers and producers. A wider definition of entrepreneurship, which includes people with disabilities and learning difficulties, is sought and the paper concludes by discussing the wider implications for the learning community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The late 19th and early 20th centuries witnessed the widespread construction of institutions for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Consequently, most historical research into the history of intellectual disability has focused on medical interventions performed inside these quasi‐medical institutions. Recently, however, there has been new interest in community options that existed at the same time and the way in which community care and formal institutions interacted. This paper explores these issues in the context of early 20th century Canada. It will demonstrate that families of ‘idiot’ children sought different types of treatments and care in order to remedy their child's behavioural difficulties and learning delays. In many cases, families resorted to applying for their child's admission to the then largest ‘idiot’ institution in Canada, the Orillia Asylum. However, these admissions often occurred after lengthy and often exhaustive attempts by families to find alternatives to the institution and, indeed, to formal medical treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with learning difficulties, like all disabled people, face social oppression. Much recent policy and practice are underpinned by at least some understanding of this oppression, and the social model of disability has been influential in discussions of services and supports for people with learning difficulties. However, in the area of mental health, the picture is somewhat different. This paper argues that the medical model has predominated in discussions of mental health support for people with learning difficulties, and that a social model approach could have much to offer. The paper draws on an ongoing action research study in which service providers, families and young people with learning difficulties are working together to articulate what is needed, in order to find routes to improve the support offered to young people with learning difficulties and mental health support needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses perceptions and experiences of impairment and disability from the perspectives of learning disabled children, their parents and their social workers. The author reports on findings from her doctoral study that adults often fail to take into account the views and experiences of learning disabled children. As a result, these children developed their own interpretations of impairment and disability based on their experiences and interactions with others. Whilst this indicates that they are active social interpreters, it also suggests that adults should make greater efforts to inform and consult learning disabled children. The author concludes by reflecting on the relevance of these findings to contemporary theories of disability and childhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the divergent theoretical developments in the UK and US disability studies and posits some explanations for these differing trajectories. History, politics, space, place and the search for identity have all played important roles. These emergent and hotly debated developments add a wealth of material to the epistemological project. The recent collections by Barnes et al. (2002) Disability studies today, and Snyder et al. (2002) Disability studies: enabling the humanities, wall be used as pivotal works. However, the question remains as to what explanatory power discourses developed within western metropolitan national cultures have for exploring the experience of disability in cultures on the peripheries. This analysis is being undertaken by an English bom academic, who has been living in Australia for over 20 years and has been keenly watching and participating in the transatlantic battles over the past decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A review of the literature exploring self-harm highlights variations in the way it is understood. A marked difference in approach appears to relate to the presence of a learning difficulty in the person utilizing self-harm. Linkage with abuse has been given credence as one possible explanation for self-harming behaviour in the general population and yet has received little consideration within literature regarding people with learning difficulties. This paper proposes that it is oppression and abuse which provide the context in which self-harm is used by many people with learning difficulties. Continually ignoring the 'message' in self-harm is to further traumatize individuals. Therefore a challenge is posed to look beyond existing responses to the use of self-harm by people with learning difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our post-modernist story is composed as a narrative analysis of the lived experiences of Belle and Louise--two women with 'learning difficulties'--and our ethnographic field notes while doing narrative inquiry. The narratives mirror a shared construction of meaning and broaden our understanding--throwing light on the dark side of an institution. The narrative analysis points out a clear illustration of power dynamics and discourses in their lives, and shows how the women boast of resilience and offer (hidden) resistance. This paper particularly illuminates the individual, personal and even private celebration of activism and self-empowerment of Belle and Louise. Their vivid stories take us on an enthralling journey, getting to know their world through their eyes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing emphasis on inclusion as a central philosophy in services for people with learning difficulties in the UK, Europe and the USA. Coupled with this is recognition of the need to actively involve people with learning difficulties in the research process through the use of more inclusive approaches. This paper reports the use of focus groups as a strategy for data collection from people with learning difficulties in a project that sought to review existing accommodation and support. A number of important key themes emerged relating to the importance of social networks, inclusion, reciprocal relationships, privacy and security. The implications arising from these findings for the provision of accommodation and support are considered. Furthermore, it was concluded that focus groups are potentially a valuable approach in research that seeks to actively involve people with learning difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of a photovoice project involving mothers with learning difficulties. Photovoice is a technique that challenges the established politics of representation by putting people in charge of how they document their own lives. The authors describe how the project was carried out and the problems they encountered. Analysis of the content of the mothers' photo albums in the context of their own personal stories throws light on both their individual lives and their collective experience. The results challenge discriminatory views of the women as different mums. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Normalisation is the guiding principle for professionals who work with people with learning disabilities. However, professionals hold varying degrees of adherence to this prevailing orthodoxy. In addition, some professionals openly dispute its merits and adopt a more paternalistic perspective of people with learning disabilities. Consequently, their views are more similar to the parents of people with learning disabilities than to their professional colleagues. Based on ideological differences, these contradictory views create tension and potential conflict between professionals. This paper explores the ideological differences between professionals who follow the prevailing orthodoxy, identified in the study as 'normalisers', and professionals who adhere to a superseded ideology, identified as 'paternalists'. Similar to the problematic relationship between parents and professionals, a solution to the internal conflict of professionals may also be found in seeking a shared ideology of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A disability reform came into force in Sweden in 1994 which emphasises the importance for disabled people to increased autonomy and self determination in everyday life. Interviews with disabled women and men have shown that while there are those who, because of the legislation, have increased control in their everyday living, there are also those who in no way have benefited from this reform. Some of the disabled participants have not even heard of the legislation before the time of the interview. They are in a situation that they require support, which they do not have, in order to apply for services of their choice and, if necessary, appeal against 'negative' decisions with regard to the applied for services. The paper concludes with a discussion about the Janus-faced nature of individual rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article I set out to trace the influence of two major sets of ideas: normalisation/srv, and the social model of disability on inclusive research in learning disability. The argument is that normalisation set the agenda for learning disability research for two or more decades. Inclusive researchers continue to apply normalisation thinking to work with people with learning difficulties, particularly in assuming the role of advocate - offering people the opportunity to take on valued social roles and assuming responsibility for promoting positive images. Latterly, a number of researchers have tried to rise to the challenges posed by emancipatory research, particularly in attempting to find ways to put people with learning difficulties in control. This illustrates the influence of thinking emanating from disability studies. However, the paper shows that whilst some ideas from emancipatory research have been applied in learning disability, there are debates in the disability literature that have not been addressed in learning disability research to date. The result is that inclusive research in learning disability is in danger of being marginalised, both in the context of disability studies and in the context of the broad sweep of learning disability research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical researchers enter into an investigation with their assumptions on the table, so no one is confused concerning the epistemological and political baggage they bring with them to the research site (Kincheloe & McLaren, 1998, p. 265). A theory of disability as oppression … recognises and, in the present context, emphasies the social origins of impairment. (Abberley, 1987, in Barton and Oliver, 1997, p176, my emphasis.) Identification with the label of 'learning difficulties' has contradictory personal and political implications for people so-labelled. While this identification has allowed people to organise collectively through the self-advocacy movement, pervasive understandings of 'learning difficulties' that permeate many societal settings tend to be framed in ways that directly confirm a personal tragedy model of disability and impairment. This paper argues for a reconsideration of impairment in relation to 'learning difficulties', to challenge pervasive assumptions in relation to 'learning difficulties' - at the level of epistemology - and to construct four inclusive epistemological foundations. The first, deconstructing impairment, draws upon a body of literature that has exposed the social nature of diagnostic criteria and destabilised naturalised notions of 'learning difficulties'. The second, impairment, as storied, brings in the accounts of people with 'learning difficulties' that locate impairment in, and as, personal and social narratives. Thirdly, reculturising impairment highlights emergent resilient cultures of people with 'learning difficulties' that re-culturise impairment. Fourthly, epistemological impacts, grounds the analysis by calling for an attention to the ways in which assumptions about the origins of 'learning difficulties' impact upon the treatment of people so-labelled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]