d.goodley@sheffield.ac.uk & k.runswick-cole@mmu.ac.uk Big Society? Disabled People with Learning Disabilities and Civil Society This research project is a collaboration between Manchester Metropolitan University; The University of Sheffield; The University of Bristol and Northumbria University as well as SpeakUp; Mencap; Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities; Pathways Associates; Manchester Learning Disability Partnership and Independent Living Advisors Pete Crane, Wendy Crane, Max Neill & Helen Smith We ask: how are people with learning disabilities faring in a time of Big Society? For more details, please visit: bigsocietydis@wordpress.com Follow: @bigsocietydis Briefing Card 3: Re-thinking ‘normal’ citizenship through disability Big Society? Disabled People with Learning Disabilities & Civil Society d.goodley@sheffield.ac.uk & k.runswick-cole@mmu.ac.uk

Becoming dis/human We found that: Disabled people want to be treated the same as other people but to be treated equally sometimes they have to be treated differently; Sometimes dis/abled people want to emphasise difference and celebrate disability(dis) but sometimes they want to be ‘normal’ like other people (human); It is important to question the value of ‘normal’ at the same time as recognising that disabled people are human too; Families, communities, and people can be both different from and the same as each other at the same time; We suggest that: To be independent, you need people who you can rely on (peers, family members, job coaches and circles of support); To have your say, you need the help of other people (self-advocacy); We need a social policy that recognises the importance of interdependence, rather than independence. Goodley, D. and Runswick-Cole, K. (2014) Becoming dis/human: Thinking about the human through disability, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, DOI: 10.1080/01596306.2014.930021