Exploring Experiences of Advocacy by People with Learning Disabilities

This book provides a fascinating vignette of the personal experiences of People with Learning Disabilities for the better (or worse) part of the last century.

What makes the book so interesting is actually meeting some of those involved and seeing their stories in print. It flags up what has been achieved so far, and what still needs to be done.'

- Oral History

'The editors of this book, written by a range of authors form the UK and overseas, set out to provide the reader with an understanding of the ways in which people with learning disabilities direct their lives through advocacy. Its strength lies in the way in which it puts to the forefront the voices of those who have been, and still might be, excluded from society if it were not for the different forms of resistance they have engaged in.'

- Professional Social Work

'The accounts are all of acts of resistance and survival, many of them told by the people themselves. This creates another fascinating book which contributes greatly to an appreciation of the role of people with learning difficulties themselves in the historical struggle for better treatment in society.'

- CommunityLiving

'This book explains how people with learning disabilities have become increasingly able to direct their own lives as fully active members of their communities. It also explains what self-advocacy means for these people and it shows how opportunities and services have changed for them in 10 years.'

- Europe for Us!

'Heartbreaking, touching and at times inspirational, this book introduces us to the people who have been oppressed, the system that oppressed them and the individuals who stood up to them…Read this if you are involved in supporting people and you will find yourself addressing your practice and attitudes and ultimately, improving the quality of care you deliver.'

- Community Care

'The accounts are all of acts of resistance and survival, many of them told by the people themselves. This creates another fascinating book which contributes greatly to an appreciation of the role of people with learning difficulties themselves in the historical struggle for better treatment in society.'

- Community Living

Exploring Experiences of Advocacy by People with Learning Disabilities charts the course through which people with learning disabilities have become increasingly able to direct their own lives as fully active members of their communities.

Accounts from the UK, Australia, Canada and Iceland consider both the individual pioneers of self advocacy and local and national groups that have been set up to work actively towards improved services for people with learning disabilities. The book also examines what self-advocacy means for these people and provides an overview of how opportunities and services have changed for them over the decades.

Many of the personal accounts, photographs and songs included in this book will be accessible and encouraging to people with learning disabilities, and they will provide inspiring reading for professionals who work with them, family members and community and government service providers.

Rohhss Chapman, PhD is Lecturer in Learning Disability Studies at the University of Manchester and co-director of Carlisle People First Research Team and a member of the Social History of Learning Disabilities (SHLD) Group at the Open University. She is a Feature Editor at Learning Disability Today and has written widely on learning disabilities. Rohhss Chapman lives in Cumbria, UK

Dr Duncan Mitchell is a Professorial Fellow of the School of Nursing and Institute for Health and Social Care Research at the University of Salford, UK, and has worked with learning difficualty services since 1983.

Nigel Ingham has, during the past 25 years, developed inter-agency reminiscence and oral history projects in North West England and South East Scotland while working in adult education and the voluntary sector. Currently he is working for Community Service Volunteers (CSV), managing a Heritage Lottery-funded project archiving the residential and working culture of the Royal Albert Hospital, Lancaster, a former large Victorian long-stay institution for people with learning difficulties.

Sue Ledger is the representative for The Social History of Learning Disabilities Group, which was set up in 1994 to research the history of learning disability in the 20th century. She is a visiting Research Fellow in the faculty of health and Social Care at the Open University. Sue Ledger has worked alongside people with learning difficulties in developing a range of support services in the UK and with two overseas projects. Sue is particularly interested in Person Centred Planning and the design of person centred teams in statutory services, housing and support planning for people with high support needs, health inequalities, consent frameworks and the protection of vulnerable adults.

Rannveig TraustadÓttir, Ph.D. is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Iceland, Reykjavik. She is active in national and international disability associations and is the President of the Nordic Network on Disability Research.