1. 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:
Briefing Card 3:
Re-thinking ‘normal’ citizenship through disability
Big Society? Disabled People with Learning Disabilities & Civil Society
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2. 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: /