Jan Walmsley

Normalisation, Emancipatory Research and Inclusive Research in Learning Disability

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.

Using Autobiographical Approaches with People with Learning Difficulties

Biography and autobiography have been used in numerous ways to represent people with learning difficulties. In this paper we review a variety of approaches to biography and autobiography with people with learning difficulties, and discuss the roles researchers play. The paper ends with a discussion of the potential of autobiography as a means to change the power relationships in disability research.

‘The silence is roaring’: sterilization, reproductive rights and women with intellectual disabilities

This paper reviews the history of sterilization of women with intellectual disabilities, and considers its relevance to current practice regarding reproductive choice and futures. The paper provides an overview of published research on historical practices, focusing on the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and the Nordic countries. Most of this research draws upon written records, centring on eugenics debates. However, emerging oral history testimonies gathered by the authors suggest that sterilization procedures were also conducted in the community, the result of private negotiations between parents and medical practitioners. The article presents these accounts and calls for an end to a ‘roaring silence’ on this issue. More empirical studies are needed to recover the experiences of women who have been sterilized and to explore how decisions about reproductive choice and capacity were made in the past and continue to be made today.

Contradictions in Caring: Reciprocity and Interdependence

Summary In this article the author draws on research into the experiences of women with learning difficulties and shows that they very often find themselves in caring roles, and like other women find them both sustaining and frustrating. Drawing a clear distinction between carer and dependant is frequently impossible: both parties in the caring relationship both give and receive. There can be reciprocity and interdependence. Care and dependence are seen as false dichotomies. A plea is made for the interests of carers and those cared for to be considered together, not in opposition to one another.

People with intellectual disabilities: Towards a good life?

Introduction: exploring a good life Part one: Reflecting on a good life: My own Life: Marie Wolfe Thinking about a good life A good life and people with intellectual disabilities Part two: Re-examining key concepts in the light of current practice: A good life in policy? Changing problems changing solutions Changing constructions of work Part three: Rethinking a good life: Justice, rights and capabilities Community, inclusion and belonging Promoting a good life Conclusion.

‘Talking to Top People’: Some Issues Relating to the Citizenship of People with Learning Difficulties

ABSTRACT The author discusses the citizenship of people with learning difficulties (mental handicap). Whilst there is evidence that people with learning difficulties can develop the skills required of ‘active citizens’, there are many socio-structural and ideological barriers to the exercise of full citizenship rights by people with learning difficulties. In addition, the citizenship claims of other groups, particularly women, are likely to be in conflict with the citizenship claims of people with learning difficulties. These issues are discussed. Finally some suggestions are made for policy changes which can promote the citizenship of people with learning difficulties.

An investigation into the implementation of annual health checks for people with intellectual disabilities.

This project, conducted during 2010 by a researcher working with a self-advocacy group, investigated the implementation of Annual Health Checks (AHCs) for people with intellectual disabilities in Oxfordshire, where only 26.1 percent of AHCs were completed in 2009–10 (national average 41 percent). AHCs were introduced in England in 2008 as a response to findings that people with intellectual disabilities have significantly worse health care than other groups. GP practices are financially incentivized to offer AHCs. This study found that slow progress in implementing AHCs was attributable to: uncertainty over who was eligible; limited awareness in general practices about the legal duty to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to facilitate access; limited awareness of AHCs and their potential benefits amongst carers and adults with intellectual disabilities; and in some cases scepticism that AHCs were either necessary or beneficial. The article also explores the benefits of undertaking this project in partnership with a self-advocacy group.

The development of community care for people with learning difficulties 1913 to 1946

This article explores from an historical perspective the emerging debates on the similarities and differences between community care and institutional care. While institutional care has been widely condemned, community care has been welcomed as offering greater opportunities for adults who have long term care needs. We argue, however, that it is more helpful to regard institutional and community care as a continuum, and draw on our ongoing research into the history of community care for people with learning difficulties to show that community care has a longer history than has been widely assumed, and that some forms of community care were as much motivated by a desire to control as they were by a wish to provide care. The article ends with some consideration of the relevance of such historical studies for modern understandings of community care.

History from the inside: towards an inclusive history of intellectual disability

This paper reviews the place of the ‘voice’ in the history of intellectual disability, drawing principally on developments in the UK, but also making reference to comparative developments in other countries. Various approaches have been used by research historians to collect and represent the voices of those involved in this history; including biographical reconstruction, oral history, institutional histories and life histories. In response to the challenge, ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’ the slogan of the disabled peoples movement, the paper argues for the careful use of oral and biographical accounts to augment histories told through official sources and examines some of the methodological challenges associated with such approaches. However, the argument of this paper, ultimately, is in favour of what we are calling ‘inclusive history’, where academic historians and oral/life historians contribute to the development of a shared history of intellectual disability.

Historical perspectives on special education, 1890–1970

In the light of continuing controversy over the role of special schools in England, this paper considers the development of special education through examination of evidence from two different geographical areas. Particular reference is made to uncovering the perspectives of those who were subject to the policies – children and their families – drawing on documentary sources, oral history and biographies. The authors highlight how the relative optimism accompanying the opening of special schools, evident in London in the 1890s, gave way to punishment or neglect in the early 20th century.